After the End
by ShadowGrace
Summary: Starting after the end of The Reckoning. Chloe and the others are on the run, skipping from one safe house to the next. Nowhere is actually safe for them, especially the latest town they run into, which is full of secretive supernaturals, a lone werewolf, and a murder. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

**Below is my story of what happens after The Reckoning. NOTE: If you haven't read The Reckoning, I suggest you get on that right away. Amazing book. Anyway, I plan on this story being from Chloe's point of view. This is my first fanfic, so please give me some reviews. I hope it's not too horrible. :P**

**As always, Darkest Powers and the characters don't belong to me – they belong to Kelley Armstrong and their other rightful owners (if there are any other owners.) **

A safe house? I didn't know if there were any safe houses out there anymore. It seemed like we'd blown through them as fast as we could find them. I guess it made sense, since our master plan was to get as far away from New York as possible. Did that mean sandy California beaches? No, that meant Texas. I was already dreading the heat and the dryness as we continued on the next leg of our journey. We'd been fortunate enough to get through basically unscathed, but that didn't mean that the Edison Group wasn't after us.

Kit had been driving for hours. I figured that he was tired, but he wouldn't let my Aunt Lauren take the wheel. The two of them had been taking turns, but Kit had always panicked when Aunt Lauren said she didn't know where she was going. Kit, apparently, has traveled all over the nation and is well-versed on the interstate highway.

We'd managed to get a van with three rows of seats, and that meant that our group was evenly spaced out. Kit and Aunt Lauren were seated at the front. Tori had immediately claimed the middle row, saying something about "not crawling into the back of this junk heap." Simon had (very graciously) taken the other half of the middle bench, which left me and Derek to the back row. I glanced to my left. Derek had his forehead pressed against the window, eyes closed. He'd practically shoved himself all the way to that side of the bench, like he was trying to get away from me.

I glanced over the seat in front of me. Simon had one of the cheap throw blankets we'd picked up along the way pulled all the way up to his chin. His spiky blonde hair was slightly crushed on one side from being pressed against the cold window. Tori had done the same. I looked at them quietly for a long moment. From this angle, I could only see the sides of their face. Besides hair color, the two of them shared facial similarities that I couldn't believe I'd never seen before.

I was still focusing on their faces when I felt someone looking at me. I glanced to my left. Derek was still asleep. He hadn't even moved. I looked up to where my Aunt Lauren sat. She'd been sleeping for hours, too. I looked up into the rearview mirror and my gaze locked with Kit's. In that instant, I knew that he knew he was Tori's biological father. I also figured that he knew that I knew.

I dropped my gaze and leaned back in my seat. What I wouldn't give for a movie right now. Preferably something that didn't have to do with werewolves, witches, or raising the dead. I might even be able to deal with a romantic comedy right now. Anything to get away from this. It looked more like my life had taken on the role of a horror movie. Everything was just too insane. And it all started with me seeing my first ghost.

I glanced to my left again. Maybe things weren't so bad after all. I mean, I had met Derek and Simon, two guys that I knew would do anything for me, and I for them. Even Tori had her good days. And it wasn't like I still believed that I was schizophrenic. I thought I'd gotten over my pre-ghost life, but it was hard _not_ to dwell on those types of things, especially when you're on the run. And sitting in pure silence.

I looked at the blanket that sat in the middle seat between Derek and me. He'd told me to take it, but I hadn't wanted it. He still hadn't taken it, instead using his baggy jacket for warmth. I guess it wasn't like I could do anything about it now, and I was cold. I pulled the blanket over my arms, maneuvering to tuck my legs underneath me. Using one of Derek's new baggy sweaters, I made a pillow for myself. The fabric still smelled like the small department store we'd stopped by to get clothes. Even the tag was still on it, pressing against my cheek.

I struggled to get comfortable in the seat with the seatbelt cutting across my neck and my clothes getting uncomfortable after the long drive. Finally, I managed to close my eyes.

I woke with a jolt as the back tire dipped into a pothole. At least, I thought it was a pothole. When I looked up, I caught sight of the sign that said we were driving from Oklahoma and into Texas. Great. I pressed my nose to the window, expecting to see desert and tumbleweeds. Oh, contraire. Instead, there was tall grass. I guess it could've been corn or wheat or whatever they grew here. In the distance I caught the sight of a giant wind turbine, spinning slowly with the breeze. The sky was a clear, smog-less blue, dotted with fluffy white clouds.

After another thirty minutes, Kit pulled onto the highway, which basically looked like every highway I'd seen on our cross-country trip. This one though had tall yellowing grass on either side of the road. And there were a lot of trucks. And I mean a lot.

By midmorning my stomach was growling, and our plastic grocery bags were starting to dwindle. Yesterday Simon and Derek had eaten the rest of the peanut butter, which left the rest of us with crackers and chunks of jerky unless we wanted to eat directly out of a can. Cold soup didn't sound appetizing to me, and I guess it didn't sound appetizing to Kit, either, because he pulled off the highway and came to a rest in front of a true country-looking restaurant.

"Chloe? Can you go ahead and wake up the others?" Kit asked in a low voice. I nodded as he reached over and woke up Aunt Lauren. They had a quick whispered conversation, though I couldn't really hear them. Aunt Lauren got out and headed towards the front doors of the restaurant while Kit started to clean out the front of the car from the countless wrappers that had been stored up there.

I leaned over and nudged Derek awake. He didn't move for the first few minutes, and after I unbuckled and scooted over to him, he jumped awake. His green eyes seemed ablaze as he took in his surroundings, muscles still tense under his too-big clothes. "Lunch," I told him quietly. He nodded as I leaned over the seat to wake Simon. I had to get him to move so I could crawl out of the back row, anyway.

"Simon." I said in his ear, nudging him. "Simon, wake up."

He nearly jumped out of his seat and then rubbed his eyes groggily. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea." I replied, leaning over to push Tori awake. She was a lot grumpier than Simon was, though she'd probably slept for fourteen hours. "Come on, move it." I said a little gruffly. Instantly, I sort of felt bad. I mean, none of us had been dealt a nice card, and it was best that we all stuck together. I had earned the title of peacemaker after all. "Please?" I tacked on. Tori grumbled as she slid out of her seat. Simon held the door open for me as I scrambled out of the back of the car.

We all stood by the car for a moment, straightening out our travel-worn clothes and waking up limbs that had fallen asleep. Aunt Lauren had already gone inside, and it seemed like Kit was waiting for us. He led the way inside, opening the door for us. Tori and Simon stepped on through. Derek took the door from his father, urging him and then me on.

Aunt Lauren was seated just inside the restaurant. I didn't know if she had asked for that table specifically so it made an easy getaway or what, but it was nice to not have to walk far. And at least I could see the bathrooms from here. I made an excuse to head to the bathroom, and when I got back I noticed that the only empty seat at the table was between Derek and Tori. I slid into my seat, scooting into the table just as a pretty young waitress came around the corner holding a handful of menus.

"Good afternoon. I'll be your waitress for today. Can I get y'all anything to drink?"

After we placed our drink orders, Tori opened up her menu and groaned. "Everything's fried." She complained, flipping to the next page. And their salads have ten thousand calories on them. Come on."

"Then don't eat." Simon countered. Half of his hair was still smashed, but I guess it didn't look too bad. Derek shook his hair out of his eyes and didn't say anything. I'd fully expected him to make some snide comment to Tori. It wasn't like him to hold back. Then again, he'd been holding back a lot, recently.

I didn't know if it was just to please my Aunt Lauren, who didn't want us to be together. I still remembered Brady's ghost telling me that it was Aunt Lauren who had mentioned killing Derek. I didn't know if she saw anything different in him now, or if her views about him were the same. All I knew was that her thoughts of me had changed since the showdown with Dr. Davidoff and Mrs. Enright, Tori's mother.

_Or, maybe he just changed his mind_. It sure hadn't seemed that way after that first motel, but who knew? Maybe he had changed his mind, and I was just stupid for pretending like everything was going to be fine after this. I flipped through my menu again. Maybe this whole thing was just a mess, and we weren't actually going to make it out of this. Why even try?

I laid the menu down on the tabletop and put my hands in my lap to calm them. My nerves were jittery, and it didn't help with my mood or my stutter. Just then, a hand reached over and gently squeezed mine, fingers lacing together. I squeezed back instinctively and looked up at Derek.

Under all of his dark hair, his green eyes glowed at me. His hand was a strong anchor to everything that felt right. Maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all. Maybe we could actually get through this.

**Okay, chapter one down, a countless many (hopefully) to go. I'll be honest – my biggest fault when it comes to writing is my inability to finish a story. Please read and review, or I might actually just forget about this (whoops.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**As promised, I have no life therefore here I am again. Besides, I'm eager to get this show on the road. (: So anyway, thanks for the reviews. Please favorite and review for more chapters! :D**

**All things go to their rightful owners. (Kelley Armstrong, cough.) (:**

Lunch was more than I had expected. When I ordered the lunch special salad, I hadn't expected a salad plate as big as my head. Bigger, even. I hadn't even been able to eat most of it. Derek, on the other hand, ate his entire plate of fried chicken breast (I think it was more like the _whole_ chicken) and my leftover salad. Now, with full stomachs and a hefty amount of leftovers, we were all tired. Aunt Lauren had looked so stressed lately that it was good to see her get some sleep. She really did need to stop worrying about me.

Kit took the wheel despite Aunt Lauren's protests. It was probably a good thing, too, since she promptly fell asleep after twenty minutes on the road. Tori, who'd groaned and complained about the fat content in her meal had eaten nearly everything, and now she groaned and complained about how gross it made her feel before finally falling asleep with her face pressed against the window.

Derek was silent, his fist tight. He jittered his leg up and down, sweat glistening on his forehead. I watched him carefully for a moment. After his first Change, all the acne spotting his face had pretty much cleared up. He still took two showers a day if he was able, but he didn't look like the greasy kid that I'd first met.

I reached out and touched his clenched fist gently. Obviously, I startled him because he gave a short jump, green eyes blazing down to me. They weren't on fire yet, but it still bothered me. "The Change?" I whispered. It was so low that I was sure only Derek could hear it, but Simon threw a look over his shoulder and looked at his adoptive brother hard. Apparently, Kit hadn't heard, or if he did he didn't show it.

Derek shook his head. "No," He muttered. Short and to the point. Concise. That pretty much summed him up.

I looked at Simon. Our gazes connected and held for a moment. It wasn't that weird type of connection that makes you feel all squirmy. No, Simon and I had tried that and it had passed, and luckily we had agreed to go back to our friendship. No awkward stages. That was helpful, because no matter how much I loved my Aunt Lauren or tolerated Tori, Simon and Derek were the only ones I knew had my back. "Do you want to work on our book?" Simon asked quietly.

I withdrew from Derek, who didn't say anything else to me or Simon, and leaned on the back of Simon's seat. He sat to the side, back against the window and seatbelt cutting into his neck. He pulled out an artist's sketch pad and a bunch of colored pencils. Kit had bought them at one of the stores we'd stopped at earlier in our trip.

Simon carefully sketched the warehouse building we'd first stayed at after our escape from the Lyle House. We'd lost basically everything when Kit had come to save us at whatever lab the Edison Group had us set up in. All of Simon's drawings, except the one of me with the corpse and the one of me and wolf-Derek, were gone. He drew in a dead bat on the ground, and I shivered with the memory of rotting bats flying into my hair.

"Put your drawing there." I said quietly, pointing to an empty crate. Simon carefully drew one of his earlier pictures into his drawing. "It looks exactly like it." I breathed.

Simon picked through his colored pencils. "Bad memories?" He asked quietly.

"Some." I replied, glancing over at Derek. The warehouse hadn't been too bad. I'd been holed up with Tori, but I knew that the guys were coming back for me. For us. In the warehouse I'd been scared, but I'd been so hopeful. I'd once thought that this whole ordeal was just us, and once we were away, they wouldn't bother us anymore. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Simon didn't say anything as he carefully shaded in the warehouse. He'd even drawn me, and was coloring my long cartoon tendrils a dandelion yellow. He picked up a pinkish red pencil and artfully shaded in the streaks I'd dyed in my hair that fateful day, the first day I'd seen a ghost.

I kept still, leaning on the back of the seat. My hair, now a horrible shade of black, hung down in my face. At least it was starting to wash out thanks to cheap hotel shampoo. Tori had said next time I should dye my hair a dark caramel brown. I was starting to think that anything could be better than the black Derek had chosen out for me. I ran a hand through my hair, fingers getting caught on knots that had probably been there for days.

"Chloe, Simon, we'll be getting to the safe house in a few hours." Kit said lightly from the front of the car. I glanced to my left again. Derek's eyes were closed and his knee had stop bouncing, but his fists were still clenched, resting on his knees.

I nodded and Kit's eyes returned to the road. I didn't know what it was, but things between me and Simon and Derek's father were kind of weird. Maybe he knew about the brief romantic stint Simon and I had. Maybe he was worried about the fact that I'd moved from one son to the other so quickly. Maybe he didn't want me with Derek. I glanced at him again. If Derek even wanted to be with me.

I leaned back and pressed the palm of my hands into my eyes. It was hard to be optimistic in a time like this. I'd always tried, since Tori and Derek together caused enough pessimism to bring a storm. Maybe I was just tired. Yeah, that was it. After a good day of sleep, I should be fine. Derek needed his sleep, too. He and Kit were always tense, and I wanted both of them to just close their eyes and sleep for real.

I tucked my legs underneath me and hugged my blanket close to me, my head dropping onto my chest and leaning against the back of the seat with my back to the window. _Just a few more hours_, I told myself. _Then we'll finally be safe_.

"Chloe." I heard my name clearly in the dream, but I couldn't see who was calling out to me. I moved down the hallway briskly, scared of the dark the encroached on the narrow pathway. It was only partly lit by an open door all the way down the walk. I held my breath until I reached the door, and then sighed with relief as I carefully pushed the door open. Black hands reached out to grab me, holding on tight to my arms and legs and hair, shaking me with spidery fingers and….

"Chloe." My eyes fluttered open and I looked directly into Simon's eyes. A little puff of disappointment flowed through me – I'd been hoping I'd wake up to Derek's green eyes – as Simon motioned out his window. Apparently, we'd been driving on a country road and had pulled down a dirt path. Barbwire fencing blocked the land from the road. A sign above the metal swinging gate that was at least ten feet high said _Stone Miner Ranch_.

Kit put the car in park, stepped out, and headed up to the gate. There was a keypad off to the side of the dirt path. He stood in front of it, consulting his latest throw-away cell phone for the numbers. Very deliberately, he pushed five digits and then climbed back into the car as the gate slowly swung inward. Kit drove into the gate, bumping over a cement line that had somehow been poured a good distance away from the swinging gate. I glanced out the back window. The gate was slowly closing behind us. Sealing us in.

Derek was wide awake, I could see that as he leaned against his window as if he were straining to get away from me. _Sleep_. I told myself, _everybody just needs some sleep_. We bumped slowly along the dirt road, twisting and curving. The farther we got into the property the more trees popped up, growing dense around the path. Kit suddenly turned off the wider path and onto one that was smaller and less-used. He bumped along that one for a while, taking one mean drop of a hill before coming back up the other side. It felt like a roller coaster as we came around another turn.

Right in front of us was a large wooden ranch house. The covered front deck had several rocking chairs and tables. Kit pulled off to the side of the house and parked the car, motioning for us all to get out. As I slipped over the back seat and down another path, still smaller than the second, I noticed a bunch of cabins dotting the roads. There were even mailboxes set up in front of them.

"What is this place?" I whispered to Simon as Derek ungracefully crawled out of the third row seat. Simon and I were waiting by the door, but Derek bowed out on Tori's side. I tried not to feel hurt as Simon shrugged and closed the car door, turning to look at Aunt Lauren. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the large ranch house in front of us.

"This is my friend's place." Kit said, coming around the front of the car. Tori and Derek followed as we headed up to the main ranch house. Kit took the steps easily, leading us on. Aunt Lauren brought up the rear like she was scared we were all going to get lost on the way up the steps.

Kit knocked on the door and then waited. The door swung open and a guy was standing there. He looked older than both Kit and my Aunt Lauren, with his scruffy beard and graying hair. He had big blue eyes which grew wider as he took us all in. Then he whistled in between his teeth and tucked a hand into his pocket. "Kit, I knew you were coming, but I hadn't expected you to bring the entire state of New York."

"Hardly." Kit answered with an easy grin. It was the lightest I'd seen him in days. _Weeks_, even. He motioned behind him. "You remember Simon and Derek? And this is Tori, Chloe, and Chloe's aunt, Lauren." Kit quickly pointed to each of us.

"Quite a party. Well, I'm Ezekiel." He motioned inside the house. "Come on in, and we'll get everything set up for y'all."

Ezekiel led us into the house, motioning for us to take a seat in the front room. I waited until Kit sat down before falling onto the couch. Derek sat down beside me, sort of. There was a lot of distance between us that I didn't think should be there. Simon sat down on Derek's other side, leaning forward to throw me a gentle grin over his adopted brother.

A woman about Ezekiel's age stepped out. "I'm Maggie, Ezekiel's sister." The woman said, holding out a hand to Aunt Lauren, who stood nearby. She raised her eyebrows at us. "Surely, he's told you where you are? By all the confused looks I see, I would say he's forgotten again." Ezekiel shrugged, and Maggie sighed. "This is our safe haven for supernaturals." She said easily. "Down the road are cabins. Most don't stay too long, but you can always stay as long as you like. Just pick a cabin and slide your name into the plastic covering on the front door, and it's yours."

Kit nodded. "Thank you Ezekiel, Maggie." He nodded to each one in turn. "We don't want to bring any trouble."

"Eh, trouble." Ezekiel replied, making a face. "Old Ms. Smith is still up at the main house. They never come lookin' over here." He shook his head. "Y'all are safe, like me and Maggie's been for years."

Kit stood up and shook Ezekiel's hand. Maggie gave him a quick hug and the two of them sent us on our way. Kit climbed into the car and motioned for us all to load back up. We did and drove the mile until we reached the first few cabins. The first couple had names on the front door, but we didn't have to go far to reach vacant cabins.

"Chloe, you're rooming with me." Aunt Lauren said as I climbed out of the car after Simon.

"But –" I started.

"No buts," Aunt Lauren countered, reaching back into the car for her bag. "You'll stay with me."

"Come on now, Lauren. Let her and Tori room together. They're practically roommates already." Kit called from the other side of the car. Intense gratitude to him flowed out of me.

I stepped up close to Aunt Lauren and whispered, "I don't want Tori to be alone." I could see by the look on her face that she was seriously deliberating. Tori probably couldn't be left alone. Her magic, like my abilities, were somewhat out of control. In one fit she could blow up the entire cabin. It looked like Aunt Lauren was torn in between keeping me away from her and keeping me close to her, as if my presence would calm Tori. Maybe she thought Tori only needed a friend.

"And there's only two beds to a room!" Kit called as if he'd heard what I'd said. He probably guessed though. He was quick, like Simon.

"Okay, Chloe. But no sneaking out." Aunt Lauren sighed.

"Where would I go?" I replied. I didn't know who this Chloe was, the girl who stood up to her aunt like her word meant nothing. I guess it still had to do with the fact that it felt like she'd turned her back on me. She'd let the Edison Group do this to me. She suggested it to my long-gone mother, and now I was blacklisted because the experiment had gone wrong. No matter how much I loved her, I wasn't exactly sure that I could completely and totally trust her.

Aunt Lauren didn't answer. Instead, she just pulled her back out of the car and went up to the first cabin, knocking before stepping inside easily. She closed the door lightly behind her. I knew I'd made her mad, and I probably should've apologized, but I couldn't bring myself to as I grabbed my bag.

Derek and I locked eyes at the back of the car, and he looked away as he handed me my bag. Yep, something was definitely wrong.

**Alright-y, chapter **_**dos**_** is done (see above.) Like I said, Review & Favorite, cause there's more to come. And even if you hated it, you should definitely leave me a review, because criticism is highly accepted! (:**

**NOTE: Ezekiel and Maggie are my own personal creations! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, thanks for the reviews. I would really like to see more (selfish, gah!) but I can't help the urge to write. So (:**

**As always, everything (except for Ezekiel and Maggie) belong to Kelley Armstrong.**

Tori and I stepped into our new temporary home. Aunt Lauren gave me a pointed glance as she stepped into her own cabin right next door. I tried not to give her the glare that I wanted to. I, Chloe Saunders, was not the same girl I had been. A lot can change in a few weeks. I mean, I'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia, moved to a group home, found out that I wasn't schizophrenic, but a genetically altered necromancer, and now I was on the run for my life. I couldn't _be_ the same person I was, even if I wanted to.

"Ugh, this place is nasty." Tori said, stepping in and looking around. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't tiny, either. The front door opened up to a furnished living room that led to an open kitchen just to the left. There was a bedroom on either side of the house with a bathroom in the middle. I thought it was nice, but apparently it wasn't up to Tori's standards. One would think that after weeks on the run because your genetically altered powers made you unpredictably powerful and therefore blacklisted, you'd be a little less materialistic. I guess you can at least see one person remain the same as she was weeks ago.

"It's just dusty." I replied, hiking my bag up higher on my shoulder. It was almost as big as me, which doesn't really help because of my smaller stature. Tori practically towered over me. Derek definitely did. Thinking about Derek made my throat close up. "We'll get it cleaned up in the morning."

"Whatever," Tori replied. She'd had a brief cleaning stint at Andrew's house, but she'd been paid, there. Andrew. My throat closed up again. He was dead, and so was Gwen. I hadn't seen any of their ghosts recently, and I was lucky that Mrs. Enright and Dr. Davidoff hadn't followed us. The only ghost I welcomed was Liz, and I hadn't seen her in forever. She said it was hard to keep up with our constant moving. She'd told me that once we found a place that was somewhat permanent to call her and she'd find me. I sure hoped that she could find me in Texas, so far away from New York.

Tori headed off to the left, taking the bedroom closest to the kitchen. She didn't even look back at me as she closed the door. I sighed and stood there for a moment. The place was definitely dusty. I didn't see any cobwebs… yet. I could clean it up in the morning. I knew Tori wouldn't help, but it would save me from having to listen to her complain about it.

I headed to my bedroom, dropping my bag onto the floor. It wasn't that small of a room. It was big enough to have a king-sized bed in there, though it only had a single. Double doors opened up to a long closet, and I even had my own window.

I headed straight for the window, intending to open it up and maybe get some of the stale air out of the room. I figured I might as well find a broom and clean up my own room so I wouldn't have a sneezing attack because of the dust. I flicked the locks and grabbed the edge of the window. It was nearly impossible to open, but I didn't let that stop me. It took nearly ten minutes to open it up enough so that I could lean out.

No matter what my views of Texas had been, I didn't really mind the air. It smelled… free. That might've just been because we were finally in a safe place, a place that had been protected for years. It could've been because we were finally away from New York, and possibly somewhere that I could stay for a while. Or maybe Texas did have a fresher air system. I mean, who knew?

The light in the neighboring cabin snapped on. The curtains on the window were drawn, and I could see Aunt Lauren lay her bag down on her bed. She looked haggard, completely worn out. I stared at her for a moment before pulling back and going to find a broom. I thought I saw a closet in the living room. Maybe there were some cleaning supplies there.

I was lucky enough to find a miniature broom and dust pan in the closet, but that was it. There wasn't any window cleaner or anything. I figured that I could ask Aunt Lauren or Kit about it in the morning. I headed back to my room to clean it up and glanced out the window again. It looked like Aunt Lauren was doing the same thing. I let down the curtains and started sweeping, brushing dust off of the bed and the table tops.

All that time ago, I'd decided to forgive Aunt Lauren for everything she'd done – suggesting the gene-altering study to my mom, lying to be about having schizophrenia, putting me in the Lyle House and, when I escaped from there, putting me right back in the hands of people who'd been trying to hurt me. She'd said she'd done it to protect me. She said that they'd told her I would be fine. But really, how could she have been so dense? Even I, fifteen years old and new to my powers, knew that Dr. Davidoff wasn't a good guy.

I thought I _had_ forgiven her, but being on the run with her had brought my questions to the surface. And it didn't help that while she trusted Derek, she didn't trust him with me. It hurt my feelings that she thought I couldn't take care of myself after being on the run without any adults for quite a while. Derek, Simon, Tori and I had been perfectly fine without her crowding in on us.

I guess this is where the new Chloe came out. I didn't listen to adult authority the way I would've. I didn't trust people unconditionally the way I used to. I didn't just nod and meekly follow directions the way I'd been raised. I was strong. I stood up for myself and for what I wanted. I took care of myself and my friends as much as I was able. Aunt Lauren held nothing over me, not anymore.

I shook my head as I swept up a pile of dust into the dust pan. Here we were, supposedly safe at last, and I was still on edge. I needed to get over my apprehensions about my aunt. I needed to move on and find myself. It reminded me of Tori when she said I needed to get a backbone. She'd been right. I never would've told her that, but she _was_. Tori and I were genetically altered, making us dangerous and a threat. They wanted us dead. Derek was a werewolf. Other supernaturals and werewolves alike wanted him gone.

The only one that was virtually safe was Simon. His powers had been altered the way the experiment was supposed to alter him. He was in the clear. Dr. Davidoff had even said that while Derek was stronger than they'd expected, they thought the experiment worked on him, too. But Derek was a werewolf, which left him in more danger.

I shook my head again. I really needed to talk to Derek. He and Simon were the only ones that I trusted unconditionally. If one of them told me to jump off a building, I might've. I didn't know what was wrong with Derek or why he was acting the way he was. I thought we'd both been pretty clear with each other at that motel after Mrs. Enright's and Dr. Davidoff's deaths. Maybe he had changed. Maybe I had changed.

Once my room had been effectively dusted, I looked out the window. Aunt Lauren's lamp was still on, but the main light was off. I guessed that meant that she was in bed, reading or something before falling asleep. Aunt Lauren had told me not to sneak out, but what did it matter? My survival had become more important to me of late.

I knew where Simon and Derek's cabin was. It was actually right across the street from Tori's and mine, making us close yet so far. I put the broom back where I'd found it and paused outside Tori's bedroom door. Nothing came out of the room, and I figured that she was sleeping. Traveling made all of us beyond tired. I figured that I would be able to sneak out the front door without her hearing. I went to open the door, hand grasping the knob. I pulled it open just enough for me to squeeze through.

Quickly, I closed the door silently behind me and turned to cross the dirt path. Instead of walking straight up to Derek and Simon's door, I ran right into someone. I stumbled back, a scream already on my lips when warm hands caught my waist, one of them going to cover my mouth. "Shh, it's just me." He pulled his hand away from my mouth, and I let out a breath.

"You scared me." I said quietly, glancing over to Aunt Lauren's cabin. He looked over towards his father's cabin, and then shook his head.

"I wanted to talk to you but…."

"But what?" I asked, hand tightening around his fingers. He was shivering. "Are you about to change?"

"What? No, I'm not about to change, I just…."

"Tell me, Derek." I said, my voice low. "You can tell me anything."

"Anything?" He asked. His eyes glowed like green in the dark. I looked behind him towards his cabin. One of the lights was on. Was Simon still up?

"Anything," I repeated.

He shook his head nervously. "I, I don't know Chloe." He replied. His green eyes disappeared for a second whenever he blinked. "I just…."

I didn't wait to hear what else he had to say. I stood up on my tiptoes, hands holding onto his arms. He was so tall that I had to reached up and yank his face down to mine. I pressed my lips hard to his, hoping that he would move instead of just standing there like I stabbed him. He stood there for a moment, frozen, and then his tenseness disappeared. He relaxed, hands traveling from my hands to my elbows, moving to my waist. He kissed me back, a lot more needy than I had been with him. He drew back, pressing his forehead to mine. We were both breathing hard, trying to catch our breath. His lips barely brushed mine for a second time, breath hot on my cheek.

"Chloe," He whispered.

"What?" I asked, hoping that he was about to tell me what was bothering him. There was something that he had wanted to tell me, and I was just waiting to hear what he had to say. My eyes were closed, hands still linked around his neck, forehead still pressed to his.

"Your aunt is watching us." My eyes popped open and I pulled away for a moment, turning to look towards her cabin. Sure enough, the front curtain twitched, spilling warm yellow light onto the dirt pathway. A burst of anger broke through me.

"I don't care, Derek." I said, grabbing a hold of his wrist. "I don't care."

He shook his head. "Chloe, I can't."

"Can't what?"

"I can't do this."

"You mean this?" I asked, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" I asked. My voice was hurt, broken, even. Derek looked torn, like he wanted to kiss me and he wanted to leave me behind all at once. I was used to Derek's mood swings, but they'd never questioned our togetherness before.

"There are a lot of things happening right now, Chloe. A bunch of things that I can't control." He shook his head. "I'm sorry."

I stared at him for a long moment, hoping that this wasn't a breakup. This couldn't be a breakup. I shook my head, stepping away from him. I didn't even know what to say to him, and I figured that I would've stuttered nervously, anyway.

I turned and headed straight back to my cabin, closing the door hard behind me. Tori's bedroom door swung open as I headed towards mine, trying to hold back the tears. I knew that something had changed, but I hadn't known what. And now I was more confused than ever.

**Alright, so… what do you guys think? Leave reviews (comments/criticism are wanted.) I'll get back to updating this soon, what with this being the weekend and me being hopelessly addicted to writing. **

**Also, I have this idea that if you have any songs (kid-appropriate, meaning no f-bombs or overly intimate situations) that you feel describe Chloe, Derek, Simon, Tori, or any of their relationships and predicaments, feel free to leave them in the reviews (as long as it's allowed, someone please tell me if this idea has been banned for some reason.) Peace (: **


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright, so making my dreams of story playlists coming true… here are a few songs for this chapter, from Chloe's POV. **

**Haunted – Taylor Swift (all rights belong to their owners) & [for those of you who lean more to the rock songs] Whatever It Takes – Pillar (once again, all rights belong to their owners.) Leave your song choices in the reviews! [and for the millionth time, if this is banned PLEASE LET ME KNOW!] (:**

**Now, back to the story (Darkest Powers belong to its rightful owner, Kelley Armstrong):**

I wasn't really able to sleep. My head was pounding with his words – _I'm sorry_. I felt sick to my stomach, but it wasn't enough to make me retch. And it didn't help that, no matter how hard I tried not to, I was choking on my tears. _How could he leave me_?

That was another thing. Sure, he'd said those heartbreaking words, but I'd been the one who turned my back and walked away. Granted, I'd just had my heart torn out of my chest, thrown on the ground and stomped on by an unusually strong werewolf, but still. What would he have said if I hadn't stepped away from him? What would _I_ have said? Just wondering what _could've_ happened was driving me absolutely insane.

And to make matters worse, Aunt Lauren had seen the whole thing. With him by my side, I hadn't cared what she'd say or what she'd think. But now that I'd been dumped – _I had_, _hadn't I_? – I couldn't believe she'd seen every humiliating moment. I could practically hear her now, telling me that she told me so. And she did… sort of. She expressed a huge dislike for the fact that Derek and I had become so close, but she'd never told me that I would get my heart broken.

And, the one time I would've liked Tori to stomp in and set thing straight her way, she stayed away.

# # #

I'd just been able to doze off, or so it seemed, when there was a heavy knock on my door. I groaned to myself and rolled over, pulling my blankets over my head. The door started to open, and it brought up a painful memory. Derek had done that to me once. It had seemed like _lifetimes_ ago. I sat up, my heart thumping at just the idea that Derek was coming to talk to me.

The door opened a little wider, and I caught the glimpse of my intruder. I lay back down and pulled the blanket over my head again, squeezing my eyes shut. Of all people, I didn't really want to see Simon, flanked by Tori.

"Chloe?" I didn't answer. Simon cleared his throat loudly, and in my mind I caught the picture of him standing there awkwardly with Tori right next to him. I didn't know if it was my mind or if it was real, but there was definitely a family resemblance between the two of them. "Chloe?" Simon tried for a second time.

"Oh, move over." Tori said gruffly after a moment of pure silence. I heard some brief scuffling behind me and could picture the two of them trying to push each other out of the way. Like little kids. Like brother and sister. "Can't you see she's _heartbroken_? God, guys are so _dense_."

"Chloe?" Simon said for a third time. Yep, he was definitely ignoring Tori, possibly for my benefit. It wouldn't really do much good if he and Tori really got into it in my bedroom. "I'm sorry." I physically winced at the words, the same ones that I'd heard all night in a deeper voice. "Derek… he's confused. He can't help whatever's bothering him. Maybe… maybe you should try talking to him about it."

"Go _away_, Simon." Tori said impatiently.

Simon sighed. "Think about it, Chloe." I heard the fall of his worn sneakers on the hardwood floor, moving away from me. After a brief moment the door closed shut behind him. Neither Tori nor I said a single thing. After another minute, I heard the front door open and close.

"It's okay, Chloe." Tori breathed. There was a weight on my bed, and I stayed completely still. Tori being nice? What a concept. "I know it hurts. You've just got to pick up your stuff and move on. And don't let him hold you back. He's stupid."

I rolled over and gave her a look. She had her back to me, long black hair hiding her face. By the way she spoke, it sounded like she'd been through it before. "He's _not_ stupid." I found myself saying. Wow, definitely not the first thing that had come to mind, but whatever.

"Chloe," Tori said turning to face me, her gray eyes hard. "He hurt you. He stepped on you. In all honesty, good riddance, 'cause he wasn't that great of a guy after all." Her nose wrinkled up, and it brought me back to months ago, when Tori and I had first met. She'd instantly hated me, and look where we were now.

"He didn't tell me why." I said quietly.

"He didn't tell you why he broke up with you?" Tori repeated. The sound of her words brought a fresh wave of tears to my eyes. What had I done to make him turn his back? What could I have possibly done to him to make him let me go?

"No," I said blatantly.

"Then he's definitely not worth your tears." She said. She grabbed my arm and hauled me up. "Look at yourself. You're _sniveling_. I mean, I know you're the emotional Chloe, but even that girl wouldn't be sitting in a room crying over an annoying werewolf." She forced me out of my bed. "Go shower and get dressed, because we are blowing this joint."

"We can't leave, Tori." I said, wiping my eyes. "We can't leave them behind."

"We're not leaving them behind, smart one." Tori replied. "We're just going out. You need a new hair color, I need new clothes… we'll look at this as an adventure. Besides, it's time you got over him."

"Tori, he broke up with me _yesterday_." Uttering the words made it feel like something was grinding down on my chest and ripping the air from my lungs.

"The sooner the better." She said flippantly. "You can't do this to yourself, Chloe. You can't wallow in self-pity because some stupid guy decided that you weren't good enough for him or whatever. You need to move on and find someone who will really care about you." She didn't look at me as she said that. She just headed for my bedroom door. Right before she opened it to let herself out, she turned and looked at me. "Be ready in thirty. And _don't_ keep me waiting."

# # #

The weird thing was that Kit let us go off the property. In fact, he offered to drive us. And Tori accepted it like he'd held her a hundred dollar bill. I didn't know what Tori thought she was going to get out of this. I suppose she could've used whatever means of money she had, since her father – or at least, the man she thought was her father – was loaded and now without a wife to share his money with. I had no idea if she even had a card. And I knew well enough by now that she absolutely refused to take any money from me, even though my dad kept my account open. I'd taken out as much as the machine would give me at basically every machine we could find in the New York state. I had a wad of cash in my back pocket and nothing really to do with it.

"You girls are going to be careful, right?" Kit said as he pulled up by the curb of the mall. The mall here constituted to about five buildings of department stores, but whatever. It was where Tori had wanted to go, and who was I to say something different?

"Absolutely." Tori said, throwing open the door and hopping out. Kit handed over one of those throw-away phones, and then nodded and drove off. I was so stunned that they allowed us out that I couldn't really think of much else besides that and Derek, the bane of my existence.

Okay, so it sounded corny, but what could I do?

"This place is horrible." Tori said, motioning towards the mall. "I doubt they have a salon. I mean seriously, where are we? Podunk, Texas?" Still, she hiked the small bag that she'd practically bullied Kit into getting her and headed towards the front doors. She'd thrown in a new cheap-o wallet in. Hey, if it made her feel more like herself, than what could I say about it? I headed after her, catching up only when she paused to open up the doors.

This place definitely wasn't what Tori was looking for. We were in the shoe department, and it looked like everything was some type of loafer or cowboy boot. She huffed and rolled her eyes, leading me away. "I doubt they have anything good here. I guess it would be like, an insult to the world if Texas had any style."

"Whoa, now." Some guy said. He'd been perusing the extensive set of cowboy boots. He even had a Texan drawl. "Those are some big insults." It looked like this guy had gone into some sort of flirty boy mode. I mean, I'd seen guys do it around Tori before. She wielded it like a weapon, and sometimes, I had to admit, I wondered if she was just oozing some sort of spell that made guys do whatever she wanted. Tori was good at getting whatever she wanted.

"Have you seen where we are?" Tori replied rather rudely, reaching back to grab my wrist and haul me away from Boot-Boy.

"Tori," I hissed. "That wasn't very nice."

"We'll never see him again." She replied, pulling me out of the store and towards the next, which at least looked to be some sort of store geared to teens. I mean, it wasn't anything I recognized with ridiculously high prices, and it obviously wasn't up to Tori's standards. But still, it was nice. I didn't know why so many people had backwoods stereotypes about Texas. I mean, they seemed like normal people.

"Still," I said as she started going through the racks. Clearance, even. Maybe she was desperate.

"Whatever, Chloe." She replied, pulling a shirt from the rack and holding it up to me. She looked at it for a moment before shaking her head and shoving it back onto the rack.

"What are you doing?"

"We're going to make you into a knockout. Derek won't know what hit him."

"I don't want to be a knockout." I complained.

Tori raised her eyebrows at me. "Seriously, Chloe? I'm doing something _nice_ because big, tall, and ugly as turned his back on you."

"I don't want to play it that way, Tori." I said quietly.

"Fine. But just don't forget that I did this for you."

"I won't."

"Well, this place blows. I say we go to that Smart Mart across the street. It looks like I'm going to have to dye your hair at home." I touched one hand protectively to my head. Of course, the black was gross on me. I was too pale for the color, and it didn't exactly bring forth any of my highlighted features. "Since you absolutely refuse to even try to look hot, I guess that's the least I can do."

Tori was really trying, I could tell. And so I let her haul me out of the mall and down to the Smart Mart.

# # #

"Wash until all the excess color comes out." Tori called into the bathroom. I rolled my eyes. I knew how to dye my hair. I'd put my own red stripes in at the school bathrooms, and then dyed my hair black in a nasty public one in the park. But whatever. _Let her do this, if it makes her feel better_.

After most of the brown water had gone down the drain and no more seemed to be forthcoming, I turned off the faucet and grabbed the towel that was hanging nearby. Wrapping it around me, I stepped out of the shower and squeezed out my hair into the sink. Not much brown was left over. Lucky me.

Tori had made me promise not to look in the mirror. Even if she wasn't in the room, I could at least make do with actually keeping the promise. I helped that the mirror was foggy from the hot shower, anyway. Quickly, I changed into my comfortable jeans and a worn T-shirt that we'd picked up at some thrift store type place. Wrapping the towel around my hair, I stepped out into the living room.

Tori was waiting for me, reading through one of her books. Tori was just chock-full of surprises. Computer hacker, book reader… what was next?

"Did you bring a brush?" She asked. I held it up, and she motioned for me to brush out my hair. She watched me carefully, and then pulled out the cheap hair dryer that she'd absolutely _insisted_ that we needed. Kit and Aunt Lauren had finally caved to her, I guess. She wielded that thing like a weapon, drying out my hair.

After a few more minutes, she pushed me towards the bathroom. "Go on, look." I raised my gaze to the mirror and stared at myself blankly. The caramel brown that Tori had chosen out after half an hour in the hair color aisle looked nice on me. In fact, it actually looked good. It wasn't clear that my hair color was faked now. It wasn't my natural blonde, but it still looked nice.

"Knockout." Tori said behind me, hands on her hips, completely proud of herself.

**Alright, so I felt like making Tori the superhero. Yay! (:**

**Review & Favorite so you can read more upcoming chapters. I'm already planning the next one. Whoopie! Peace out, **_**mis amigos**_**. (:**


	5. Chapter 5

**Some of you might be like "Whoa, two chapters in one weekend?" But I say "HECK YES!" Honestly, I'm too in love with this story right now, so forgive me if it suddenly goes booming up in chapter numbers.**

**RandomReader15: have patience, young grasshopper. (;**

**And to the rest of you: thanks for the awesome reviews! Below is my next chapter of what happens to our loveable characters. Remember to leave me a review, because I like them. And favorite this if you haven't already, because that will make you my new best friend. (:**

**Everything goes to its rightful owner: Kelley Armstrong**

I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to move on from this. I mean, Tori's medication was to go on a shopping spree and have a makeover. I wasn't like her. I did like the new hair color, but I was still hurting deep inside. I know it takes time for someone to get over feelings like this, but I just wanted to erase them completely. At this very moment, I wanted to remove Derek from my life. How much easier would it have been without him?

I knew that I couldn't actually want that. Derek was… well, he was Derek. And I had hopelessly fallen for him. It the first time that I admitted it to myself: I think I'd fallen in love with Derek. With a werewolf. Of course a relationship wouldn't be easy. I didn't know why I expected anything to be different. Why I expected anything to work out in the first place.

# # #

Exactly one week had passed since Tori had taken me and gotten my hair dried. One week and one day, and I was still missing Derek. The two of us had purposefully stayed apart. Tori was like my secret spy. She moved ahead and let me know if Derek was there. If he was, I stayed away, if he wasn't I went ahead. I figured that it would be easier this way. One whole week without him.

I guess Simon had been doing the same thing, because he would pop up out of nowhere and then suddenly disappear, probably heading back to Derek to let him know that I was currently taking up a space. I guess Simon and Tori had put their energy into keeping us apart, too.

For the first time since I'd met her, Tori was being generally nice. I mean, she'd been nice before. She pretty much single-handedly revealed that Andrew wanted to give Derek to the pack. She'd showed us the Margaret was bad news. She'd fought for me when Margaret had forced me into that cemetery…. She'd been nice then, but Tori was going out of her way to make sure that I was practically coddled.

I tried to ask her why once. I formed the question in the nicest possible way – "Tori, why are you doing this all for me?"

And she'd shrugged and said, "I've been where you are Chloe, and it sucks. I might as well pull some other girl out of that before things get too bad."

I didn't ask what "too bad" meant, but it was clear that Tori had been in some kind of depression in the past. Something so bad that she didn't want me to go through it. It actually raised my respect for Tori one hundred percent. She couldn't be that bad if she actually cared, right?

My human contact was basically lowered until I only talked to Tori and sometimes Kit or Aunt Lauren. I think Aunt Lauren was trying to refrain from talking me. I didn't know if she was still mad about the way that I'd argued over staying in a cabin with her or if she was just annoyed that I hadn't listened to her and now I'd been crushed. My Aunt Lauren was a doctor, but she couldn't do anything to fix a broken heart.

Kit was even more awkward around me than Aunt Lauren was. I mean, he had good reason. His son and I were over. If it were bad enough that we'd had to choose sides, he would definitely be on Derek's side. There was no doubt about it, and I could respect that. But it just made things tense.

And with Simon, it was even worse. At the beginning, I'd only really trusted Derek and Simon. In one blow, I'd lost them both. Tori was gaining my trust, but it wasn't to the point where I would place my life in her hands. I mean, I would if I had to, but not on a regular day. Simon was completely distant. He gave me nods and spoke to me quietly if we ever ran into each other, but other than that he kept his distance.

And so there I was, starving for human contact, and the only people that I had to talk to treated me like I was some fragile thing, like a baby bird with a broken wing. I needed to talk to somebody who didn't look at me like I was broken. I needed Liz.

# # #

I'd managed to make Tori leave. I told her that I'd decided it was time to call Liz and she'd wanted to stay and see her hold best friend. I didn't want her around, though. I told her it was probably unlikely that Liz would even show up right when I called her, unlike she would've in Buffalo. The distance made it harder for her to find me; she'd told me that once.

I sat on the floor of the living room in the little cabin I shared with Tori. Out of the front window, I could see that dusk was falling. At least now I could see out the window. Over the past week, I'd attempted to get my mind off of things by cleaning. Now the entire cabin was pristine. I took a deep breath, smelling the Lysol I used all over the place. With my eyes closed, I pictured Liz in my head.

So far, I'd been lucky enough not to run into any ghosts on this property. I guess it stands to reason, since not many people came out this way. The cabins were basically a hideaway type thing, and they were pretty empty. Maybe that had been true in the past, and that no ghosts had lingered behind to bother me, the super-charged necromancer.

"Liz," I called out. My voice was just a whisper, but I knew that she would hear me if I was focusing hard enough. Carefully, I ramped up the power a little bit. I guess I should've been doing this with someone, but it was easier to talk to her alone. All I had to do was wait and see if anything got weird. "Liz, I need to talk to you. Where somewhere in Texas."

**[Readers, start listening to Start Again – RED, from Derek's POV (it's a rock song, and it belongs to RED, not me.]**

The door opened, and my eyes popped open. Could Liz have found me already? She was a telekinetic half-demon who, in death, could physically move things. Was she the one who opened up my door? I stared blankly at the sliver of light coming in from the doorway, waiting to see the smiling face of Liz on the other side.

The door opened more, and my stomach dropped. Of course. And I thought I'd been doing so well.

He stepped inside the room and carefully closed the door behind him, his back to me. When he turned around, my breath caught in my throat. His green eyes were ablaze and his skin was clearly hot. Was he starting to Change again? Did he come looking for me to help, since I was the only one who bothered to hang around while his bones cracked and shifted?

"Chloe," He breathed. The way he said my name made me think that he cherished it. My heart was pounding in my chest, breath caught. My eyes started to water just looking at him. Oh yeah, I was so far gone that I wasn't sure if anyone was going to be able to pull me out of it.

I couldn't say anything. I just stared at him blankly. I'd been calling for Liz and he showed up. This was the first time in a week that I'd been truly alone, I realized. The first time that Tori had left me to my own devices.

"Chloe," He took a step forward. He made a sound like he was choking, and then he dropped to the ground next to me. He was definitely starting to feel the feverish Change. He was covered in a thin layer of sweat. "That wasn't what I wanted."

"What?" I managed to cough out.

"I didn't… I didn't want us to be separated like this." His voice was clearly forced. My heart caught in my throat when he said that. Was this past week just a fluke then? Was it? He shook his head briefly, and I couldn't help but think that it was the exact way a dog would move. "I… Chloe, there are things that I can't control. I don't want you to be hurt by me. By it."

Suddenly I found my voice. "By what?"

"The wolf." His teeth clenched together as he forced the word out. "I may be me, but it wants like a wolf wants." He sounded like the words alone pained him. He might have even felt the pressure of the wolf inside him.

"What does the wolf want, Derek? What could it possibly do to hurt me?"

He looked up at me. It was clear that this was going to be something very momentous, something that he'd tried to keep from me. If he decided to tell me, it was going to be a major step for the two of us. He opened his mouth to answer, floundered around for a moment. "It's attached to you, Chloe." He breathed. "It sees you as a _mate_. And if it ever overrides me and I get jealous for some reason… it could hurt you." He was shivering now, and I couldn't help but shake myself. He'd just told me that his wolf, something that some people saw as dangerous, saw me as a mate. His one and only. It was a declaration of love, but it was also a warning.

"I'll never give you a reason to be jealous." I replied. Before I could stop myself, I was leaning into him. Our lips pressed together, and Derek moved to wrap his strong arms around me. I didn't care if the Change was close. I didn't even care if he was feeling all sick and sweaty. My heart pounded in my throat as he kissed me like he was about to lose me. He kissed me like it was the last time he'd ever see me again.

After a moment, he yanked away. "The Change," he muttered. He stood up shakily and headed for the door. I followed after him, determined to be there for him. It looked like he was going to head into the woods behind the cabin that he shared with Simon. I was right on his heels when he froze in the middle of the pathway between our two cabins. He clapped his hands over his ears and stood there shakily for a moment before dropping to his knees in the dirt.

The Change was upon him.

He covered his face with his hands like he always did, I guess to hide his face from the elongating nose. Fur sprouted like course hair across his skin and then retracted as he shook. At least he wasn't vomiting this time around. That phase seemed to be over with.

I stepped up and grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled on him. "Come on, we've got to get in the woods." I hissed under my breath. I couldn't pull him myself and people were bound to hear the sounds of his bones shifting as he lay in the path. What could I do? I yanked on his shirt some more, but he was already bulking up, fur sprouting across his arms. His fingers shortened and became round, the nails elongating. His ears moved higher on his head and changed to a pointier shape. The back of his shirt was starting to rip under my hands.

"Chloe! Get away from him!" Of all people, it was my Aunt Lauren. Was that a tranquilizer gun in her hand? I couldn't focus on it for long because Kit was pounding after her.

"Lauren! Don't shoot him!" I heard him yelling. Simon and Tori were racing down after them, and it looked like Ezekiel, from the main house, had climbed into his truck. The lights turned on has he started the old pickup up.

I wanted to yell at them that this wasn't a freaking movie or something. And I know good movies. Instead I just tightened my grip on Derek's shirt. One half hand-half paw wrapped tightly around my own, and I crouched on the ground next to him.

In all the commotion, I was hardly aware of what was even going on. Aunt Lauren kept coming, with Kit hard on her heels. She stopped fifty feet away and turned to aim the tranquilizer gun at Derek. Kit jumped for the gun. With Aunt Lauren wrestling Kit for the rights of the gun, I didn't have to worry about getting a tranquilizer in me.

Derek was letting out a high keening sound that hurt my ears. He was shaking so hard that my body shook, teeth chattering. And before I even knew what was going on, Derek stopped. He was lying on his side in the dirt, my hands wrapped tightly around wolf toes.

Simon and Tori had basically converged around me. Aunt Lauren and Kit had stopped fighting for the tranq gun. Ezekiel, and it looked like Maggie, had pulled up and gotten out of the car. Ezekiel let out a low whistle.

Kit stepped forward, possibly to get closer to his werewolf son. Everybody buy Maggie, Ezekiel, and Kit had seen Derek was a werewolf. Aunt Lauren looked like she was sure he was a danger. Simon and Tori looked at him with awe. Or… were they looking at me? Why were they looking at me like that?

The movement was almost imperceptible. Aunt Lauren was leveling the tranquilizer gun, pointing it straight for Derek. I realized then that he was growling, a deep, low sound that vibrated through his body and up my arm. Even Simon kept his distance as the growl broke out over the silence.

Derek raised his wolf head and looked right at Aunt Lauren. "Move, Chloe." She said calmly. "He's unused to his power. He could really hurt you. You saw what he did to Diane Enright." Tori froze at the sound of her mother's name. Nobody but Aunt Lauren, Derek, and I knew that Derek had knocked out Mrs. Enright for a short period of time.

"Stop her!" I called out. Aunt Lauren pulled the trigger, aiming directly for Derek's soft hide. It would've hit him or me, too, if it hadn't been for a creature that jumped in front of us and took the dart. It landed on all fours and turned its head to look at me. I froze.

It was a coyote. One ear was missing, and from the back it looked fully alive. But there was a bullet to the back of its head that I hadn't noticed before, dried blood seeping into the fur of its neck. It didn't have eyes anymore, either, which put me on edge. I'd summoned it without realizing it. I must've summoned it while I was calling Liz, and it had just taken a dart for Derek.

The coyote moved closer to me, and I couldn't think of any words to say as its dry, dead nose pressed against my leg. "Stop, please." I said. The coyote froze where it was, tranquilizer dart hanging from the skin on its side. It stared at up with black holes. Everyone was silent, and then Derek stood up, shaking the dirt from his inky black fur.

"Well, Kit. You didn't tell me you had a werewolf and a powerful necro." Ezekiel said after a moment.

**My longest chapter yet. Sorry for that if it bothers you. But aw yeah, Chlerek & a Change all in one chapter, not to mention dead animals. 0_0**

**Anyway, for this last little bit I had a song in my head the whole time. Most of my songs tend to be more of the rock variety. Monster – Skillet (all rights belong to their owners).**

**Anyway, hoped you enjoyed the second chapter. I couldn't keep Chlerek apart for long, so yeah… one chapter after the other…. At least they've come to an understanding!**

**Please review & favorite. Peace (:**


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright, so, I feel the urge to write. Usually, I might just ignore it if I couldn't find anything to work on, so I decided to write on this. And you guys better thank me, because I just got my new book in the mail! :P**

**Chlerek: It seems that way, doesn't it? But I'm a devious mastermind, and I plan for Chloe and Derek to have their scuffles… and you'll all find out what happens in the next chapters. [Insert evil laugh here.]**

**flappy101: Thanks! I'm glad you like it! (:**

**Nocturnalnobody18 & SweetDreamz3116: I'm glad you guys enjoyed this past chapter! (:**

**As always, all rights belong to Mrs. Kelley Armstrong.**

The horrible thing was that the first thing that came to mind was to run to my cabin and pack up. Kit was adamant that if anything came out we had to leave. It was a safety precaution, one that I completely agreed with. I'd do anything not to get trapped by the Edison Group, or what was left of them. I figured that maybe the Cabals would be after us now, only if they found the time or the reason to. Kit had said something about them not being too bothered at the moment, since they had other big things to deal with. But with me and Tori… well, we were super-charged supernaturals.

A cold nose pressed against my hand, bringing me back down to the here and now. At first I thought it was the dead coyote that I had summoned, moving against my will. But the coyote's nose had been dry, and this one wasn't. _Derek_. I brushed my hand over his head, trying not to feel weird about petting my boyfriend on the head like he was my pet instead of my equal.

I dug my fingers into the soft fur of his neck. Having Derek right next to me, whether he was in wolf form or human, was like an anchor for me. Grounding me. The fact that he wasn't running towards his cabin or pushing me towards mine told me that maybe it was okay just to stand there for a minute and see what was going to happen.

I looked up at Ezekiel, flanked by Maggie, and tried not to think about all the ways that they could hurt us. Attack us. Hand us over to the Cabals. I looked down at the coyote that I'd summoned. It would be willing to help, if I told it to. It was smaller in size than Derek, pointed ears pricked forward like it heard something. Its empty, black sockets looked up at me expectantly, a tilt to its head like it was waiting for a command. Surprisingly, it wasn't baring its teeth at me or growling, like the other animals that I'd summoned back. This one was… peaceful. That sort of freaked me out, too.

Kit sighed heavily, and my muscles tensed. I was waiting for him to say anything that could be interpreted as a "run!" sort of situation. Instead, he just shook his head. "Details," He said. I felt myself fall into a more relaxed position. Kit seemed like he was willing to stay, and that was enough for me. I think it was enough for Derek, too, because he sat down right by my feet, head pressed into my hand.

I looked up at Aunt Lauren and caught her standing off to the side, gun limp in her grasp. She'd done it - running towards Derek with the tranq gun - to protect me, I knew that, but it still made me a little angry at her. I thought I'd showed her that I could take care of myself. I thought she knew that Derek and I _cared_ for each other. She _knew_ it was more than a friendship between the two of us.

Ezekiel looked at the coyote standing before me with a slight aversion. He wouldn't be the first. I never would've thought that I'd be comfortable with dead creatures standing there, listening to my every command. Maybe I wasn't comfortable, but I was _used_ to it. That should've been a bad sign, but I guess you can't help it, when you're a necromancer.

"Well, Kit, I'd sure like to hear it all sometime." He looked at me and Derek, standing close to each other. "But ya'll need to get your rest for right now. You're safe here. We ain't goin' to tell nobody, I can tell you that." I looked him over carefully, searching for any signs that he would go against his word. I guess it was hard to, though. I mean, there's just something so utterly trustworthy about a graying man with a beard and a cowboy hat. Not to mention his easy drawl and the way he looked at us like we were friends, not enemies.

Kit nodded. "Thanks, Ezekiel."

"No problem, for a friend. Me and Maggie will be waitin' to hear your story tomorrow mornin'." He said. It was kind words with a soft tone, but I heard the message underneath them – _we'll see you tomorrow morning, where you _will _tell us about your werewolf and necromancer_.

Kit nodded again. "Breakfast?"

"I'll make pancakes," Maggie answered, giving us a broad, warm smile before heading back to the truck. Ezekiel tipped his hat and turned to follow her. We were silent as the two of them climbed into the beat up pickup truck. The lights came on, blinding us all momentarily. Ezekiel pulled the wheel tight and managed to turn the car all the way around, driving down to the main house. Nobody said a word, even after the two siblings had climbed out of the car and headed up onto the porch.

Finally, they closed the door behind them and I let out a breath that I hadn't even been aware that I was holding. Derek leaned against me, his body heat soaking through the denim of my jeans. I flicked his ear lightly, and he just gave a slight shake of his head. Aunt Lauren was still standing off to the side. She looked like a puppy that was about to get into trouble, but I couldn't think of anything to say to her. What was I supposed to say to her?

Kit shook his head. "Kids," He turned to look at us, his eyes drifting over Simon and Tori but pausing on me and Derek together. "Go to your _separate_ cabins." He looked a little angry. I didn't know if it was about Ezekiel or the fact that my aunt had come after his son with a tranquilizer gun. I didn't really want to hang around and find out. "And Chloe, please release the coyote."

Oh, yeah, the coyote. I'd kind of forgotten about it in that intense moment with Ezekiel, when I thought that I might have to make a run for it the moment his back was turned. The moment was made even worse when I saw the hurt look on Aunt Lauren's face when I didn't say anything to her after Ezekiel and Maggie had driven off. I closed my eyes, focusing on the coyote's soul breaking apart from his body. Uncomfortably, it was a lot easier now. Now that I'd had practiced. When I opened my eyes, the coyote's body was limp and soulless and my feet.

Simon and Tori split apart. Simon headed to his cabin, pausing by the door. Tori headed straight for me, like she was prepared to strong arm me into going with her. She probably would've, too. But I was going to go with her without fighting. It wasn't like I could really have a heart-to-heart with Derek while he was in wolf form, and Kit had told us to go our separate ways. No matter what, I respected him.

I knelt down and looked Derek directly in the eyes. Though his form had completely changed, his eyes were, eerily, the same fiery green. I leaned against his chest, wrapping my arms around his wolf neck. He tucked his head over my shoulder, effectively hugging me back. I leaned back on my heels and looked at him for a moment longer. There was a moment of pure silence between us. Derek leaned forward, pressing his cold nose into my cheek, breaking the moment.

I caught myself smiling as I stood up. Derek watched me for a moment, and figuring that I had to be the one that turned away first, I did. Tori raised her eyebrows at me as we started walking back to our shared cabin. At the door, I paused to look back. Derek was still watching for me, wolf ears pricked forward as if straining to catch anything I said. I was about to say something, I wasn't exactly sure what, when Simon said, "Derek, come on," from their doorway. He turned around and bounded up to the door. Simon held it open while Derek slipped inside, disappearing into the warm light of the cabin.

I turned back to mine, but not before catching the look that Aunt Lauren and Kit were giving Derek and me.

# # #

The moment the door was closed, Tori pounced. "What the heck was _that_ all about? I thought we had an agreement! You were supposed to stay _away_ from him!"

"He came over here!" I said back, suddenly defensive. "He came inside the cabin!"

Tori paused, looking like I'd caught her in mid-rant. "What did he do?"

"He just came in and sat down on the ground. H-he told me that he d-didn't w-w-want us to split up." I said, the stutter coming back as Tori glared at me.

"Stop with the stuttering, there's no need to freak out." She turned her back to me and began to pace the room. "I just don't understand. The kid said that he wasn't sure what he wanted. I thought _that_ was pretty clear." I almost regretted telling Tori about the way that we'd… separated, I guess you could say. But hey, I'd needed _someone_ to talk to, and I wasn't about to talk to any of the guys about my troubles with Derek. And talking to Aunt Lauren just didn't seem right.

"Things were kind of messed up." I said, trying to keep it light. I wasn't really sure what was going on with this. I mean, I don't really date. In fact, Derek was my first boyfriend. I'd had crushes before, but I'd never acted on them and they'd never come up to me. And the butterflies had never been so strong until I realized that I really did like Derek, in more than the let's-just-be-friends way.

"Come _on_, Chloe. I didn't think you were _completely_ a lost cause." She rolled her eyes. "I thought you had _some_ wits about you."

"I'm not stupid, Tori." I said defensively. "I just don't see the big deal. It was a misunderstanding. Those kind of happen sometimes, geez." I said in one quick rush. The moment I'd said it, I wished I could take it back. I wasn't that type of girl who could talk to someone with such sarcasm. I couldn't get away with it like Tori could.

She practically whirled around to look at me. "Oh, my God. Did you just say that? I think you did." She looked pleased with herself. "It looks like I'm finally rubbing off on you." She grinned at me happily for a moment, and then sat down in the huge, antique-looking armchair that sat by the couch. "Chloe, dating is not just black and white. There are reasons, _true_ reasons, for everything. Every guy is out to get something for himself."

"Derek's not like that." I said.

"Derek's a _guy_." Tori shrugged. "Of course he has that little piece of mind that's only out to get something for himself." Her eyes raked over me, like she was assessing me. "I just didn't know his reason for skipping out on you like that. But if he's all for getting back together, well… just look at it clearly. Don't let your emotions get the better of you."

God, it was like Tori-wisdom all of a sudden. I mean, I understood that she'd definitely had more experience when it came to guys and girly experiences, like shopping and dying hair, but seriously? We'd left that world long ago. I didn't know how to tell her that she needed to get out of her funk about being exactly who she used to be. I mean, she can't. Not anymore.

"I don't think he's out to get anything, Tori."

"Just be careful, that's all I'm saying. I mean, if one of us has to get all buddy-buddy, it might as well be you. It's not like I'm going to get all cuddly with tall and gruesome, and Simon's basically the most annoying thing on the planet." _Spoken like a true sibling_. "Besides, how awkward would it be on those long car rides? Like it's not bad enough as it is." She shrugged, sitting in her chair for a moment longer before standing up and heading to her room.

"Now, I need my beauty rest, and I'm definitely not letting wolf-boy ruin it for me." She looked me over one last time, and added, "Chloe, just think about it. Hard." Then she shut the door behind her, leaving me alone in the living room. With only my thoughts for friends.

I wondered where Liz was. Tori was the expert in boys, I was sure, but Liz had been her best friend. Maybe she'd had some helpful knowledge to depart into a clueless soul like me? Then again, she was a ghost. But it wasn't her fault – she had been killed by Dr. Davidoff when they decided that their alterations in her genetics hadn't gone so well and that she couldn't be "rehabilitated." Still, it would've been nice to have _someone_ besides Tori to talk to.

I finally stood up and headed to my bedroom. It was late, I was tired, and it looked like there was a long day ahead of me. And now I had something else on my plate, too. No matter how much I thought that this whole thing had been a misunderstanding between the two of us, a part of me couldn't forget what Tori had said. I was sure that the girl had her fair share of heartbreak and heart_breaking_ in the past. Who better to get love advice from?

Well, there could be better, but none of them were hanging around, willing to talk with a girl who could raise the dead.

**Chapter… what chapter is this? Six? Chapter Six done! Sorry, I'm not good with numbers. (:**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and now we've got a rundown of Chloe's story (shortened, just for those of us who've forgotten) ahead of us in the next couple of chapters. And of course, we need some romantic drama. [Muahaha.]**

**Also, I'd just like to add that I find it incredibly fun to write Tori's character. Is that sign, you think? Hmm… questions to ponder…. (:**

**Review & Favorite! Peace out!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A little sad about the number of reviews, and I haven't updated in a long time (so it seems.) Anyway, I'm going to be moving on with the story, since that last bit was sort of chapter fluff.**

**Anyway, all things belong to their rightful owners (Kelley Armstrong.)**

"Chloe. Chloe, wake up!" I was only partly aware of the fact that I was shaking, but I couldn't feel anybody's hands on my shoulders. It was like the _bed_ was shaking. I guess it's sad to say that I kind of dismissed this at first. I mean, with all the weird stuff happening to me, a shaking bed was not really highest on my list of priorities.

The bed shook harder, and my eyes drifted open. I probably should've expected something, but I didn't. That's why I almost screeched when I saw her face leaning over mine. The moment my eyes had opened, a huge smile had spread across her face. She shook the bed frame again, and said, "Hi there! I finally got you to wake up. Even _I_ have a hard time moving things sometimes."

"Liz?"

"The one and only," She replied. She jumped on my bed, and I ignored the eerie feeling I got when the bed didn't move. Liz sat back and wiggled her toes, watching her crazy socks move. "I wish I would've gone in something different, you know? I can only wear the same things for so long." Her eyes met mine, and she flashed me another warm smile. "You called?"

"I-I just wanted you t-to know where w-we are."

"Calm down and think it through, Chloe." Liz told me with a soft smile. "And thanks. I was wondering when I was going to be needed again. I guess I can't let you guys have all the fun, can I?" She was silent for a moment, and then her eyes seemed to bore into me. "There's something wrong here, isn't there?"

I sighed and gave a tiny nod. "Derek and I… we got into a misunderstanding." Liz nodded, playing with her fingers while she listened. I liked Liz, and I wished that I could've gotten to know her a little better when we together at the Lyle House, before she died. She and Tori were best friends, but Tori's negative attitudes were completely opposite of Liz's optimism.

"So, what did you guys do about it?"

"Tori and Simon tried to keep me and Derek apart. It worked for a whole week but last night… well, he had to Change, and we sort of kind of made up. But not really, I guess. Not according to Tori."

Liz sighed. "Tori is… well, she knows about heartbreak, I guess. But she's also one to fall for the jerks and the losers. I don't know what kind of complex she has, but it's there. Anyway, Tori's right. You need to define your relationship with him, that way you're both on the same page. "Derek's one of those complex guys. They're awesome, but they're harder to be with sometimes because they've got so many different sides and views… you're just going to have to figure him out. Down to a T. He trusts you, you know. And I think he loves you."

I gave a little squeak at the words, and Liz smiled. "I spent time with him a while back, remember? You guys had been taken and I was Derek's babysitter. You don't spend that long of a ride with someone and not pick up a few things about them."

Before I could answer, someone knocked loudly on the door. "Come on, Chloe. We've got to go to the main house for breakfast. Everyone's waiting outside." Tori called in. It was funny, seeing Liz's face light up at the sound of her best friend's voice. It must've been hard to no longer be at your best friend's side, and when you were able to, she couldn't see or hear you.

I leapt out bed and quickly changed, almost pulling the closet doors all the way to so I could wiggle into my jeans without having Liz watch me. I knew that she could've appeared right beside me if she wanted to, but she was kind enough to give me some privacy. When I poked my head out from behind the closet door, Liz was gone. Maybe she went to follow Tori, or maybe she was just roaming the house. Certainly she couldn't have left, right?

I yanked on my worn sneakers and ran to my bedroom door. I headed straight for the cabin door and flung it open. Sure enough, everyone was gathered in a sort of semi-circle. Kit and Aunt Lauren stood off to the side, talking amongst themselves. It looked like whatever argument they'd gotten into had been smoothed over, at least on their parts. Aunt Lauren looked a little jumpy, but not much worse than me or anybody else waiting to see if the Cabals were out to get us.

Tori and Simon stood next to Derek, who was staring off into space. My heart gave a loud thump just seeing him. Could Liz be right? Could he love me? He'd told me as much in the cabin before his Change, hadn't he? He said that his wolf saw me as a mate. Wolves mate for life, don't they?

Tori caught my attention, and I was relieved to see Liz hovering just behind her. Liz probably could've gotten their attention by picking up anything around them, but she looked content just to hang around silently. It sort of _haunting_, really.

I moved towards Liz and Tori. "Liz is here," I said quietly. Tori perked up immediately, and I pointed to where her best friend stood. Liz smiled as Tori exclaimed her hello. I guess it was nice to watch them, and I had to hang around to translate for Liz anyway, but it was interesting to see how Tori just utterly trusted Liz. There was just the barest bit of sarcasm hidden under some of her words, but instead of being bitingly sharp, it was warm and funny.

"Come on, kids," Kit said after a moment. "We've got to get down to the main house. We don't want to leave Ezekiel and Maggie waiting."

Instead of driving down there, we all decided to walk. It wasn't that far, really, and it was kind of relaxing. Even then, Simon and Tori put a separation between me and Derek, and it wasn't like we could talk heart-to-heart with them, his dad, and my aunt all listening in. I needed to talk to him later… _alone_. Liz walked at my other side, and I still had to play translator for her and Tori, but my words were just whispered between them.

When we got to the doorstep of the main house, I realized that I was panicking. I didn't want to go in there and tell Ezekiel and Maggie our story. Look what that had got us last time – Margaret and Russell had easily handed us over to Dr. Davidoff, for _money_. Ezekiel and Maggie didn't seem like the type that wanted money in return, since they lived out here in the middle of nowhere and seemed pretty content with it, but they could probably be bribed in other ways. Insured safety, perhaps.

Kit took a deep breath and pressed his thumb to the doorbell. It didn't take long for it to swing open. This early in the morning, Ezekiel was already fully dressed with his Wrangler jeans, too-big belt buckle, and button-up shirt. His whitening beard was ragged, and his cowboy hat sat squarely on his head. He clapped his hands together at seeing us. "Come on in. Maggie's been workin' all mornin' for those pancakes. We heard that them young werewolves like ta eat." He gave me a wink, as if he were talking about me.

Derek didn't say a thing. Ezekiel didn't even look at him.

Kit stepped over the threshold, and the rest of the group followed. It was always like this, I guess. Like a massive game of follow the leader, where Kit was always the leader. Ezekiel stepped aside so we all could get in, and the moment I stepped towards the kitchen, I could feel the heat coming from there. It smelled like Maggie was cooking more than just pancakes. Liz quickly bowed out, saying that she was going to roam and that I could call her if I needed her.

"After breakfast we'll talk." Ezekiel said just as Maggie called, "Soup's on!"

Ezekiel motioned for all of us to step into the kitchen, and like always, we followed Kit. Maggie handed him a plate and told him to move on through the line. I was right when I said that Maggie had been cooking more than pancakes. There was a huge pile of them on a round plate. Sitting on the stove top, though, was a giant pan of scrambled eggs, more than a pound of sizzling bacon and sausage patties, warm buttered biscuits, and white gravy. On the long table were several bottles of syrup, Tabasco sauce, peanut butter and jelly, salt and pepper shakers, and an industrial sized bottle of ketchup. I guess they aren't playing when they say that everything's bigger in Texas – especially their breakfast.

I went through and picked up a little of everything, though I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to eat. True to form, Derek waited until he was last and line and cleared up most of what was left. It seemed like Tori and Simon had been able to coordinate it so that Derek had to sit at the opposite end of the table from me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Instead of calming me, though, all it did was sent a mix-match of scents up my nose.

# # #

I'd managed to clean my plate, which I thought was pretty good. Derek had practically sucked his down, and waited quietly until Ezekiel told him to go clean out the rest. He did exactly that. If they were alarmed, Ezekiel and Maggie didn't let it show.

All throughout the meal, I'd caught Maggie watching me every so often. She hardly sat down and ate, and when she did, it was very little. She spent most of the meal getting up out of her seat to get something for someone else – water, juice, another spoonful of eggs – and now she was up grabbing everyone's dishes so she could wash them in the sink. I offered to help, but she politely turned me down and told me to go have a seat at the breakfast table.

"So, Kit, do tell us about your son and Lauren's niece."

"Ezekiel, I think it's better if we just tell you what has happened to us… I think you'll get the gist of everything after that." Ezekiel nodded, accepting this, and Kit started off. He told Ezekiel about how he'd lost the boys after Derek's name had been printed in the newspaper. He told how he'd been kidnapped and how he'd finally broken free from his captors.

Simon told Ezekiel and Maggie about how he and Derek had come home and found their father missing. He told them about how the two of them were transported off to the Lyle House, and how they figured something was up when I arrived and Derek knew that I hadn't been lying about seeing the janitor ghost at my school.

I told him about how Rae and I hadn't gotten captured by the Edison Group. Simon filled it in with his side of the story, and together (with the help of Tori) we told the siblings about time of traveling between our captures, how Andrew had died betraying us, and how we'd brought down the Edison Group's building with the help of the demi-demon I'd released. Kit finished off from there, accounting all the motels and places we'd run to get as far away as possible.

At the end of our story, Ezekiel looked like he'd just seen one of the best movies he'd seen in a while. Maggie, who had plugged up her sink before our storytelling, was silent as she scrubbed the dishes clean.

"That's quite a story you got there." He let out a low whistle. "In all honesty, I think I _do_ understand. Maggie and me will be silent, I swear to it." Ezekiel said. "I just wish, Kit, that you would've told us all that _before_ you showed us up last night."

"I figured that you would understand. I trust you, I do, but it was in the best interest for all of us to be silent. Bad things have happened to us in the past when we've told our story." Kit replied.

"Well, then," Ezekiel sighed, "I guess my question is, what are ya'll going to do now?"

"We don't know." Aunt Lauren piped up for the first time. "We've got some things we need to… iron out." She looked at me as she said it, and I sighed heavily. Of course, Aunt Lauren was going to do something to complicate my life even more. I guess maybe that I should've seen this coming. Aunt Lauren was a part of my life before I discovered that I was a necromancer, and putting her with the group of my life _now_ probably changed some things around. It wasn't exactly a happy marriage, to be exact.

At that moment, Derek looked up at me for the first time all morning. My heart gave a shudder, and I sighed as his fiery green eyes probed mine. I thought that I saw the ghost of a smile, but I wasn't really for sure.

Maybe… well, maybe it was time to change up a few things.

**Alright, so this is chapter seven, and I hope you guys all enjoyed it. Please leave me a review of your thoughts. (:**


	8. Chapter 8

**Weekends must be my strongest written time: the second week in a row I've posted two chapters in one weekend. Oh well, I can't help it. And I hope you guys aren't complaining. (:**

**Miya3281: Thanks! The more reviews I get the more likely I am to write. (Once again, another thing that I just can't help. I want to make sure you guys are really enjoying it and if it's worth it to continue.) (;**

**karreana: That certainly would be an epic way to get Lauren to stop being so clingy. Sadly, I don't think that Chloe is that good at confrontation. Sigh. (But, there is someone else…. Muahaha.)**

**ZOMG: Thank you! I'm working to get to the end point, so we'll see how it goes. (;**

**As always, Darkest Powers belongs to Kelley Armstrong. (And I'm not Kelley Armstrong.)**

Ezekiel and Kit talked for a while longer, and Aunt Lauren got up and pretty much forced Maggie to let her help with the clean up. With both Kit and Aunt Lauren busy, it was the first time our special little group had a moment to actually talk amongst ourselves in a really long time. We got up and migrated to the large living room of the main house. Simon sat down in the middle of the only couch. I couldn't help but think that he was doing that to insure that I wouldn't get a seat next to Derek… at all.

I guess it really didn't matter, because without even looking at me, Derek sat down in one of the chairs. He kept his gaze away from mine. Tori perched on the nearby rocking chair, slowly pushing herself back and forth while I sighed and ended up sitting next to Simon. He nudged me in the side and gave me a smile, and I forced a grin back.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Simon asked after a moment of silence. It didn't take me long to realize that he was talking about what Aunt Lauren had said to Ezekiel. I had no idea what she possibly could've meant by that. It wasn't like she could really do anything to me, at least I thought. I _belonged_ here, with Simon, Tori, and Derek. _Derek_. I stared at him for a long moment, trying to find his eyes. I wanted him to _look_ at me, but he seemed intent on keeping us apart. My heart thudded in my chest, and I felt tears prickle my eyes. Could Tori have been right? Did Derek actually care for me at all? Why would he be doing this, if he actually cared?

"I have no idea, but it better not be anything major." Tori said, pulling my attention away from the grumpy werewolf in the corner of the room. I leaned back against the pillows on the couch, pulling one onto my lap. I hugged it to my chest and sighed.

"I'm worried that she's going to try to make me leave." I whispered. I knew that Simon and Tori were close enough to hear me, and I knew that Derek, despite being across the room, could hear me loud and clear. I was hoping for him to say something like, "We're not going to let that happen," but his head just gave a simple shake.

"We won't let you take you away." Simon said. _Well, at least _someone _cares_. He threw an arm over my shoulders and pulled me into his side for a hug. "We need you around."

I gave him a genuine smile, however small it may be. To my surprise, Tori said, "Yeah, we need another girl around here. I don't know what I would do if I were stuck with these guys." Of course, it wasn't a direct compliment, but it was probably the best that Tori could muster. She shrugged when she caught my gaze. "And even then, there needs to be someone who's as much as a genetic freak as I am."

It should've sobered me up, made me silent and grim. Because it was true – Tori and I _were_ genetic freaks. We could be in danger just because someone had thought it would be a good idea to mess with our genes. But, instead of being silent and saddened, I couldn't help but crack a smile and giggle a little. I mean, one person can only take so much seriousness. After a moment, Simon joined in, adding his surprisingly high-pitched chuckle into the mix. Tori grinned like she'd just gotten a prize.

Derek was silent.

# # #

We'd managed to leave the main house an hour later. Aunt Lauren took this as her time to pounce. She said she wanted to speak to me privately, emphasis on the last word. _Privately_. It could only mean something bad. Simon caught my hand and gave it a squeeze before going, and I managed to tell Tori that Liz was going to be going with her, before Aunt Lauren pulled me away from them and into her cabin.

Her cabin was an exact copy of mine and Tori's, down to the furniture and the rugs. It was actually kind of disorienting, really. Aunt Lauren directed me to sit on the couch, and I did without arguing. My stomach was tight at the idea of what was going to happen. What did she think she was going to do? Aunt Lauren sat down on the armchair nearby, and I got the feeling that she was going to go all psychologist on me.

"Chloe, I… I thought I understood what you were going through with Derek. But you have to remember, he's a werewolf. He doesn't see you the way I do. He doesn't even see you the way Kit, Simon, or Tori does. He sees you with two pairs of eyes, honey." I flinched inwardly. _Honey_. I didn't want her to call me that. "He's _dangerous_. When that wolf of his takes over…."

"It doesn't take over." I interjected in a low monotone. It surprised me. But even more, it surprised my Aunt Lauren. She paused, her mouth hanging open like she was a fish. "He just shifts shape. But he's still Derek."

"You don't know that," Aunt Lauren spoke to me like I was one of her crazy patients. Like I couldn't take care of myself. She talked to me like she did when I thought I was schizophrenic. Like she thought that I could absolutely lose it at any moment. _I'm not schizophrenic. I'm a necromancer. _"But that's beside the point. When we first started out… I told Kit that we were going to stay for that time. I think it's time that the two of us move on together, Chloe."

My heart stuttered in my chest. She couldn't make me leave Simon and Tori. She couldn't make me leave Derek. They were my friends. They were my family. No matter how much I loved Aunt Lauren, she couldn't take care of me the way they could. Aunt Lauren had bought me slushies and clothes, she'd taken me on trips, she'd loved me for herself and my mother. But she couldn't protect me from the ghosts. She couldn't make me stop seeing them. She couldn't force me to go anywhere with her.

"I'm not going." I said. I don't know who that Chloe-made-of-steel is. She's a different girl, different from the girl I am.

_No, she's _me.

"What?" Aunt Lauren sounded shocked, like she thought that I'd just comply with whatever she said. I might have, in the past. But I'd trusted her before, I'd gone along with what she said. I'd gone to the Lyle House thinking that I was schizophrenic because she said I was. I'd gone to her when the Edison Group had _shot_ me, and she put me back in her hands. Aunt Lauren had apologized, she said she had a change of heart.

But her past actions meant that I could never just trust her blindly again. I might have been the soft, sweet Chloe from before, but after living in grungy warehouses, having dead corpses crawl on me, controlling ghosts, releasing a demi-demon, and practically hugging a werewolf while he changed from human to wolf… I wasn't the Chloe she thought I was.

"I'm not going. You can't take me from them." I said, standing up from the couch. Aunt Lauren stood up like she was going to block me from leaving. The first thing that came to mind was to summon. Summon anything, anyone. Something to _protect_ me. Aunt Lauren wasn't going to hurt me, right? Then again, she had held a tranquilizer gun – though I still didn't know how she'd gotten one – and shot it at Derek while I was standing nearby. The dose for Derek was a lot stronger than a dose for me. Still, she'd shot at him without pausing to think it might hit me. That it might _hurt_ me.

"Chloe," Aunt Lauren sounded exasperated. "Let's just think through this."

"Y-You can't p-protect me like t-t-they can." I managed to get out. My heart pounded in my chest, and my neck and cheeks felt hot. My hands ached to do something.

"We'll go somewhere safer than Texas. They'll never know where we've gone. There won't be a reason for you to even _worry_ about being found."

I shook my head and took a step towards the door. She took a step to block me. It reminded me of a time back when I'd done the same walking dance with someone else – someone who I wished was here right now. Just then, the front door opened and Aunt Lauren glanced over her shoulder.

My heart was pounding in my throat when I caught the flash of green eyes. A black wolf stood in front of me, and I saw Liz holding onto the door. Tori and Simon weren't far behind. I didn't see Kit. Aunt Lauren stood there, staring at the group of teenagers gathered in front of her, though she couldn't see Liz. Derek's lips pulled back from his teeth, a low growl escaping from his chest.

"Now, Derek," Aunt Lauren said, staring at the wolf as he stared her down. I had the feeling that his wolf had a little more influence over him than he usually did. He told me that the wolf saw me as his mate – did that mean the wolf was reacting to his mate being in trouble?

Simon looked out of breath as he leaned against the doorway. "Please." He said between huffs, "Please don't take her away."

Tori wasn't far behind him. One of her fists was balled up, lightning crackling from her fingertips. _Don't hit her with a spell, Tori_. I thought. _Please don't hit her with a spell_.

"Simon, really, this is something for Chloe and I to discuss. _Alone_." She looked down at Derek, who gave a low snarl.

"Aunt Lauren, you can't take me." I told her bluntly. I was surprised that my stutter was gone when I said that, because my heart was thumping loud enough that I was sure Derek could hear it from across the room. "I belong with them."

Aunt Lauren stood there and didn't say anything as I stepped away from her and towards the black wolf. Derek's nose went to my hand, nuzzling at me. I let my hand go over his head and across his ears. He leaned into me, and Simon gave me a grin.

"We'll talk about this later, Chloe." Aunt Lauren said from where she stood. I guess it was just something she thought she had to do – she thought that she had to have the last word.

"Yeah, later." Tori said, taking that one little thing away from Aunt Lauren. We all hurried out of the cabin, and Simon pushed us into his cabin. Derek followed, his nose nearly always touching the back of my leg.

# # #

"You think she's really going to make you go?" Simon asked, sitting on his couch. Derek curled up on the floor next to me, his heavy head resting on my shoe. He snuffled, his glowing green eyes shut. Maybe he was sleeping. I knew that the Change took a lot of energy out of him.

"I'm not going to let her make me leave." I replied, tugging on a loose string on the armchair. "She can't make me go anywhere. I belong with you guys."

Simon's eyes drifted over his sleeping brother. "Yeah, I guess you kind of do." He said. His eyes met mine, and I suddenly knew that Simon knew about Derek's wolf and its idea that I was his mate. And the weird thing was, I wasn't really bothered by it. In fact, it was sort of thrilling in a weird, twisted way.

"One thing's for sure," Tori said lazily, "We totally scared the crap out of your aunt." Simon laughed and Tori added, "And yeah, I don't think we're going to let you leave, either."

**One of my shorter chapters, but what can I say?**

**The confrontation with Lauren isn't over… [insert evil laugh.] And there's more Chlerek to come you die-hards. (;**

**Please leave me a review and let me know how I'm doing on this story! (:**


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, so it's been a while since I've updated this story, and I figured it was about time. Happy Holidays & Happy New Year to all of you readers out there! As a special treat to all you die-hard Chlerek fans, this chapter is mostly devoted to Chloe and Derek trying to work through their problems. :D**

**RandomReader15 – Thank you (: And believe me, there will be more Chlerek. Who could live without they're adorable little love story?**

**Alasyn – Thanks! In all honesty, I haven't read many of the other stories. I promise I will start proof reading more often. (;**

**As always, Darkest Powers belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

Derek had woken up, still in wolf form, and had left for his cabin. I told myself it was just because he'd need a change of clothes when he shifted back, but I couldn't help but feel that annoying little flutter of words that I didn't want to hear. _It's because he doesn't want to see you. He doesn't want to hang out with you or be around you._

Maybe his wolf was the one that had propelled him to come to my rescue. Maybe his conscious thought had nothing to do with it. I leaned back on the couch. Tori crossed her ankles as Derek got up and loped towards the door. Nobody got up to let him out. It took only a second before Liz appeared in the corner of my vision. She reached for the doorknob silently and turned it. Derek's ears perked up and moved, flicking back and forth as he tried to pinpoint where Liz was around him.

Derek slipped out of the open door, and Liz gave me a sad look. "I'm sorry, Chloe. I just… I thought he needed to be let out." I gave an almost imperceptible nod. She gave me a sorry smile, and said, "I've got to go right now. But as long as you're staying here for a while, I'll be back." I gave another nod, and she disappeared.

I got up to close the door, pausing at the window. Simon and Derek's cabin still had its lights on. I could see Derek moving slowly across the path towards the cabin door. I could see Liz twisting the doorknob across the way. Warm golden light spilled onto the dirt path, illuminating the black wolf. I swallowed hard. I didn't know what I'd done to make him do this to me. He says at one point that he doesn't know what to do, and then in the next he says that he didn't want us to be separated.

And now he acts like we barely know each other.

I blinked, trying not to cry. I bit down on my tongue hard enough to make it bleed. Watching him walk away _hurt_. Across the way, Derek slipped into the open doorway, and the door slowly closed behind him. I couldn't help but think that my wolf was gone.

"Chloe," I jumped at the sound of my name. Simon was still sitting on the couch in the cabin that Tori and I shared. He made no move to get up and follow his brother. I wasn't sure if I appreciated the gesture or just wanted him to leave. "Derek… he's confused." He said finally.

Tori snorted. "Confused about what?" She asked loudly, crossing her arms. I could see in that moment that Tori believed there were sides. She thought there were sides to everything, from good and evil in the world to Derek and Chloe in their arguments. And it was clear that she'd chosen my side. I bit back a remark that probably would've made me feel bad anyway. I'd never expected Tori to jump on the wagon to protect me. But that's what she was doing.

"Think about it, Tori," Simon said defensively. "He's just been him all his life, and now he has to deal with the wolf. I mean, he had the wolf qualities before, with his being protective and stuff, but it's worse now. He's literally battling with himself."

"Wow, Simon. I never knew you were so _insightful_."

"Tori," I said sharply, scaring myself. It certinaly surprised Simon, his mouth open, completely slack-jawed. Tori narrowed her eyes at me. "Just hear him out, okay?"

"Fine, Chloe. You can go do whatever you think will fix this. But when you really need to get this done, you can find me in my room." She stood up, glaring at me and Simon simultaneously before leaving the living room. She closed her door soundly behind her.

I sighed and flopped down on the couch next to Simon. "Great," I said, fighting to keep the emotions in check. I wasn't going to cry. I'd only cried to myself, when it came to Derek. "The time that Tori chooses to be nice, and I've made her mad."

"She's just mad, Chloe. She'll get over it." Simon lowered his voice as he threw a friendly arm over my shoulders. "I think she has something invested in this."

"What do you mean?"

"Tori's not a nun. She's had her fights and her problems with boyfriends before." Simon shrugged. "I think that your thing with Derek is reminding her of a past boyfriend or something. I think she does want to help you. She's not as heartless as we thought she was. Obviously, because she actually seems to care about this. I don't know if it's for you or her or a combination of it, but she's definitely with you on this."

I smiled up at him. I couldn't help but think about how close the two of us had come to being together. Was it just a fluke that I'd managed to, unbeknownst to me, fall for his brother? Was it a twist of fate? Or was it an accident?

Simon patted my shoulder, and glanced up to the window. I felt his hand tense on my shoulder for a moment before relaxing. I glanced up into his face. His eyes were narrowed on the window, but the moment he caught me watching him, he flashed me a grin. "I really am sorry for everything, Chloe. But remember what I said before, okay? Talk to him."

"I don't know if I can talk to him."

"Yell at him, then. He certainly needs someone to make him stop thinking his invincible." Simon gave a short laugh, and I forced one out, too. Then he stood up, gave me a gentle hug, and let himself out the front door. I caught him moving past the window. It wasn't in a perfect line towards his cabin, but it was close enough. He was probably just dodging rocks or something on the road. I didn't think anything about it as his form disappeared into the darkness.

I sat there for a minute, silent and confused.

And then I let myself cry.

# # #

Tori still wasn't talking to me. Aunt Lauren wasn't talking to me. Kit was extremely awkward around me. Derek wasn't even looking at me. How did I manage to alienate practically everyone that I'd kept close to me for so long?

At least Simon still talked to me.

Simon came and knocked on our door to let me and Tori know that he and Kit were going to run to the store and get supplies. He wanted to know if we had anything to add to the list, or if we even wanted to come. I shook my head. Tori didn't even come out of her room.

I stood at the window and saw Simon and Kit get in the car. The engine roared to life and they slowly made their way down the dirt path towards the huge metal gate at the front. I stood there for a minute, silent, until I realized something.

It had only been Simon and Kit that had left. Aunt Lauren was in her cabin, probably reading or plotting ways to get me to leave. Tori was holed up in her room, and it looked like she wasn't going to be coming out anytime soon.

Which meant that Derek was in his cabin, alone. And here I was, apparently with a penchant to talk to him. I swallowed nervously, thinking about how much that I wish I had someone here with me right now. I didn't mean like Liz or Tori. I meant more like… like my mom. Even Rae.

Thinking of Rae just made me sad. It reminded me of a girl who'd just needed to know that she was special. A girl who was a half-demon. I didn't know if she was a genetic freak like me and Tori, or if the experiments had worked on her, like it did for Simon.

I shook my head. I couldn't think about Rae and Derek at the same time. I needed to think about one of them. And no matter how bad I felt about Rae, Derek was more important to me in every way. He had never sent me back, he'd never lied to me, he'd never let me down.

Or had he?

I swallowed nervously, brushing my hands over my hair before clearing my throat and reaching for the door. This was it. I was going to take Simon's advice and talk to Derek. I really needed to figure out what all this was about. What it meant. And I was starting to think that Simon was right when he said that Derek was confused. I'd never looked at it in that way before. Was Derek struggling with his wolf the way I'd first struggled when I'd realized I was seeing ghosts?

I threw a glance over my shoulder, looking towards Tori's room. If she wanted to stop me, right now would be the perfect chance. I waited silently for a minute. There wasn't even so much as a peep from her room.

I took it as a universal sign that I was doing something right.

# # #

I stood in front of his cabin door. This reminded me of all the times that I'd stood in front of his door at the Lyle House. I remembered standing outside the room that he and Simon had shared at Andrew's house, clearing my throat and hoping that he would hear me.

Derek was my rock. He had always been there for me, even if it was just me expecting that he was going to yell at me. That he was going to get in my face and tell me whatever I'd done wrong. Whatever that I'd done to trouble him. And then there was after I'd managed to admit that I'd had such an intense like for him, hidden to me the entire time. And then I depended on him to be there for me, even if he was just saving me like always.

I hadn't realized how much I'd needed that until it was gone.

I put a hand on the door, thinking that he could probably hear me inside, unless he was sleeping. Could he seriously be sleeping? I'd barely had a wink of sleep since Derek and I kept having our scuffles. My hand touched the knob. Usually, I would've knocked and waited to see if he even wanted to talk to me. If he hadn't opened the door, then I would've stepped away and chided myself for being so stupid.

But I was the new Chloe, and I needed to talk to him, whether he liked it or not.

I twisted the doorknob, half expecting it to be locked. But it wasn't. I took another deep breath and pushed the door open. The living room was a reversed copy of the one that I shared with Tori. Unlike Aunt Lauren's cabin, some of the furniture was different. It was still freaky, though.

I glanced at the bedroom that would've been Tori's. The door was closed. On the kitchen counter, right next to the door, was Simon's diabetes kit. It probably had his tester and maybe a shot or two of insulin. I looked at it for a moment and then decided to go to the one other bedroom.

I leaned against the doorway for a second, and then deftly twisted the knob. I wasn't shocked to see Derek lying on the bed, one hand thrown over his face as he snored. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but his jeans were still belted tightly around his hips. He wasn't wearing socks, either. I found myself wondering if he was cold before remembering that we were in Texas.

It was surprising to see how much that just seeing him did to me. It almost physically hurt. I found myself clenching my fists as hot tears pricked at my eyes. Without really thinking about it, I reached over and slammed the palm of my hand into his shoulder. Without him being tense, my shove really did push him. He nearly rolled off the edge of the bed, a feral growl ripping out of him as he regained his balance on the other side of the bed.

He twisted sharply to face me. I could see his muscles moving as he did. It was crazy, and it was freakishly magical. I realized in that moment that I just shoved a werewolf off his bed in the middle of his sleep. I caught just a flash of his green eyes as he angled himself towards me, already positiond to leap across the bed and choke me to death. I saw the shock on his face when he registered that it was me. His growl faltered and his eyes grew wide. "Chloe? What the heck are you doing here?" He asked.

"I can't believe you!" I said. Loudly. It was more like a yell than a comment. My throat got all choked up and tears pricked the back of my eyes. Simon had said that I should yell at him if I needed to. Tori would've smiled at me, probably.

But I figured now that after all of this time, I finally needed to freak out, if it was just once. All this time I'd tried to keep my composure. But I finally snapped.

Too bad Derek was the one that got to feel the wrath of a tiny necromancer who was more powerful than her own good.

"What?" He said, touching his shoulder absently. He really was well-muscled under all of the baggy clothes that he purposely wore to turn people off. It probably should've scared me, but I was so beyond angry at him that I couldn't even think about it.

I'd never been this angry in my life. It felt like my blood was boiling underneath my skin. I could feel the flush over my cheeks and on my skin. My neck felt hot under my hair. And I was well aware of the hot tears slicking down my cheeks. My fists were clenched, and I had the scary need to hit something.

Who was this girl? The one that wasn't afraid to push a guy much bigger than her around? The one that defied adults? Where was the girl who just nodded and kept to herself and was the peacemaker of everything? I couldn't help but wonder why I'd changed, and if I'd actually changed for the better.

"I can't believe you'd do this to me!" I yelled at him. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Nothing, Chloe. It's just my…."

"That's not an excuse! That wolf is who _you_ are!" I screeched, like a banshee or something. "I can't believe this! I trusted you with everything! _Everything_!" I shouted.

Derek's gaze hung towards the ground. He didn't say anything.

"You're the only one who I've ever trusted unconditionally with my life, Derek! And you left me!" I realized right after I said it that it was true. I loved my dad and I loved Aunt Lauren, but I don't think I've ever trusted them more than I've trusted myself. I trusted Rae enough to tell her my secret, but I hadn't told her everything. I trusted Simon and Tori.

But I'd never trusted anyone more than I'd trusted Derek.

Derek walked around the end of the bed and moved towards me. His hands grabbed my face, tilting my gaze up to his. His eyes were alight, fiery green, but not in the way that they were when he was close to Changing. His skin was warm, probably from him getting all worked up about me yelling at him. His dark hair hung in his eyes, cut shorter than it was when I first met him, but still in need of a good trimming. I could feel Derek's eyes tracing over my face as a thumb smoothed away a tear over my cheek. His breath was warm on my face.

And he said the only words that I'd ever needed to hear in my entire life. "I'll fight it. For you." He leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine. And it was one of the first times that I could really remember where I hadn't leaned into him first. I felt myself go tense before relaxing. His hands rested on either side of my neck. My hands found their way to his bare chest, bracing myself against him.

It was scary, how much someone could mean to you.

**Alright, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter (: Please leave me a review to let me know what you think, how I could make it better, etc. **

**Peace (:**


	10. Chapter 10

**This is my first story update of the New Year! Yay!**

**crayoncorruption – me too! For some reason I just could not get over how annoying Lauren was. Haha. (: And I liked to see Chloe as a stronger character, too (not that she isn't strong in the books, but I'm a huge fan of obnoxious, rebelling heroines.)**

**Rachel K – thanks! Honestly, I update as often as I do because it's something to do outside of watching TV, writing my own pieces, and reading. (;**

**The Darkest Powers series and characters belong to Kelley Armstrong.**

My fingers curled on Derek's chest. His hands tangled in my caramel brown hair. My legs were starting to ache from standing on my tiptoes. Derek must've figured that out, because he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me up, my feet resting on the tops of his as he bent down a little farther. I could feel him smiling against my lips and I couldn't help but smile back.

Derek pulled back first, his arms still tightly wrapped around me, drawing me into his chest. I had my arms wrapped around his middle, my fingers grasping together to keep my anchored right there, at his side. He flashed me such a sincere smile that I couldn't help but let out a giggle. He cupped my face with his hands, my hair spilling out over his palms.

"Does that mean we're back together?" I whispered.

"We were always together, Chloe." Derek said back, his voice equally low. "I screwed up that night. Tori and Simon were keeping us apart, no matter how hard I tried to get you alone so I could talk to you. Finally Tori left you alone, and that was just before my Change. But it was a chance, so I took it." He said, shaking his head back and forth. "I'm sorry. I should've known better. That's what I'm used to – taking a step back and leaving if I need to. But I can't do that to you. I need you, and it hurts me to let you go." He said.

I smiled up at him. I could feel the hot prickling of tears on my eyes, but this time it wasn't out of sadness. I undid my hands from around his waist as I leaned back to get a better look at him. I looked up at him for a long time. "I'm sorry for pushing you off the bed." I said after a moment.

Derek laughed and smoothed my hair back from my face. "I think that's one of the best things that's ever happened to me." He said.

I laughed as he pressed his forehead to mine. I closed my eyes and lifted my chin a little. Derek was already leaning down. His lips brushed mine just as someone stomped by the bedroom door. "Hey, Derek, I just forgot my insulin and –" Derek jerked away from me, his hands tightening on my waist. We both turned to his bedroom doorway.

Simon stood there, standing awkwardly with his insulin and tester case in one hand. His eyebrows had practically shot up into his spiky blonde hairline. "I, uh… well, this is awkward."

"Simon," Derek's voice was a low growl, his chest rumbling under my hands. He still wasn't wearing a shirt. I could feel a flush on my cheeks. Simon had been okay with me and his brother being together, even though Simon and I had tried a romantic relationship first. Simon didn't care anymore. But it was still embarrassing, and I sort of felt bad for him. If I'd told Derek to go ahead and date Tori, I'd be flaming with jealousy. That is, if they even liked each other.

I stepped away from Derek, one hand sliding down his arm until our fingers intertwined together. His grip was strong, effectively keeping me from moving, but it wasn't so tight that it hurt. Simon gave me a slight smile. "Well, it looks like everything is going… um," He cleared his throat. "Good here, but I've got to fly." He said, motioning towards the front door.

Simon stepped away and out the front door. I stared after him. I hadn't felt this sort of trouble between the three of us since Simon and I had gone on our ice cream date, which had been an utter failure. Derek gave me a gentle tug, pulling me back to him.

"Don't worry about him." He said quietly. His hair wasn't greasy at all anymore, probably because he'd reached his first Change a while back. "He'll be fine. I think he's just shocked." Derek whispered. I couldn't think of anything to say to that. If I was Simon, I would've been shocked, too. Derek's hand, the one that wasn't wrapped around mine, brushed through my hair. "By the way, I never told you that I like your new hair color."

"Better than black?" I asked in the same low voice he was using.

"Much, much better." He replied with a smile. I laughed as he kissed my jaw.

"Hey, Derek?"

"Hmm?"

"You need to go put on a shirt." He laughed, smiling as he pressed his lips to mine.

# # #

Kit was not immune to the tension flying between us four teenagers. He also knew that Aunt Lauren and were not exactly on speaking terms. So his idea to fix it all? Have a special dinner at the cabin that he had to himself. Apparently, he'd told Tori about it when he and Simon had come back from the grocery store. Derek and I had been roaming, hand-in-hand, through the scraggly forest nearby. When I'd come back with Derek, Tori's eyes had grown to the size of dinner plates.

Derek and I had separated, then, because he wanted to go talk to his dad and Simon. I had no idea what they were going to be talking about, but I was guessing that it was going to be something involving me. Tori had grilled me like I was a hamburger patty, asking me all these questions about Derek and how we'd gotten back together. Her face when I told her that I'd taken Simon's advice and just _talked_ to him was priceless.

It was funny, how things finally fell into place just before Kit's dinner. I had a feeling that this whole meal was dedicated to doing what we'd all done for ourselves. Still, I pulled on my nicest pair of non-bloodied, non-torn jeans and found a shirt that we'd bought from some store on the way down to Texas. I pulled a brush through my hair, aware of the fact that Tori was standing in my doorway with her arms across her chest.

"Look at you, getting all dolled up." She said sarcastically. The short heel of her boot tapped the door frame. When I didn't answer her, she kicked off from the doorframe and went to sit on the end of my bed. "So, what's the whole story with you two?"

I looked at her in the small mirror that was sitting on top of the short dresser. Could I tell her about Derek's wolf thinking of me as its mate? I was sure that it didn't mean much, to her anyway. Plus it wasn't like she was going to run off and tell anybody. Besides, all anybody needed to know that was ammo against the two of us was that we'd stuck together since the Lyle House.

I set down my brush and turned to look at her. I was going to tell her about Derek's wolf, but I was interrupted by loud knocking on our front door.

"I'll get it," Tori said with an exasperated sigh. She stood up and headed towards the front door. I heard the click of the locks as she undid them. It was silent for a moment, and then I heard Tori say, "What the _heck_ are you doing here?"

"Tori, I just needed to talk to Chloe."

"Well, she doesn't want to talk to you." Tori said. I heard her slam the door shut, followed by the twist of the locks. I dropped my brush on the bed and headed towards the living room. I was sure that whoever had been at the door was Aunt Lauren. I knew her voice anywhere.

I moved around Tori and reached for the door. Aunt Lauren was still standing on the other side. She gave me a big smile as our eyes met. "Chloe," She said with a smile. She made a move like she was going to step into the house, and I held the door at my side. Something told me, instinctively, not to let her into the cabin.

Aunt Lauren's eyes met with mine a second time. She brushed imaginary dirt off of her pant legs and cleared her throat. "Well, I just wanted to see if you were going to Kit's tonight. I was going to see if I could make that dessert you like so much."

"Yeah, I'm going." I said, studying her face as I said it. I had already been on the fence about Aunt Lauren's trustworthiness, but when she'd tried to make me leave, she'd lost most of the trust that I'd invested in her. "I'll be there with Tori. And Derek and Simon."

"I thought you and Derek were fighting." She said, her eyebrows shooting up. She looked like she'd just heard bad news.

"We've worked it out." I said stiffly. It was hard to miss Aunt Lauren's face falling. Why did she immediately judge Derek when she hadn't done that to Simon? She hadn't even done it to _Tori_. And it was clear that she hated the idea of me and Derek together. It reminded me of the time she'd risked herself so that we could all get out of the building alive. She'd told Derek to take me and run. I was sure that she thought that it was going to be the end of her, and the end of all of us. I don't think she honestly thought that Derek and I were going to stay together.

"Well, then. I'm just going to go make that dessert, and I'll see you at Kit's." She said stiffly.

"Yeah, see you." I said back. Aunt Lauren turned on her heel and headed down the dirt path to her cabin, right next door. I closed the door soundly behind me and turned to look at Tori, who'd taken up residence on one of the nearby armchairs.

"I don't think that's all she wanted." She said.

"Yeah, me neither." I shook my head. "I don't think that we can do anything about it right now, though."

"Right," She said, standing up. "Let's go get you ready for dinner."

"I am ready."

She looked me over for a long moment, gave a low snort, and waved her hand at me. "Come on." She said, turning on her heel and heading towards her bedroom. She looked over her shoulder at me as she stepped into her room. "Come _on_, Chloe." She said.

And I had no other choice to follow her.

# # #

Derek's face when he saw me was priceless. It made me smile as I took his hand. He and Simon were waiting on our doorstep to walk Tori and me down the twenty feet to their dad's cabin. Tori was still wearing her boots, but she'd changed into a casual black dress that we'd bought at a department store. Tori had a fit that it wasn't designer, but she'd still liked it anyway. She just wouldn't openly admit it.

She'd let me keep my jeans, but she'd made me change my shirt for one that had more of a drape to it. At first, she'd tried to fit me into some of her shirts, but our size difference left her shirts acting like dresses on me. At least she hadn't held me down to pluck my eyebrows or made me sit down long enough for her to smear makeup all over my face.

"This should be interesting." Simon piped up as we walked towards Kit's cabin. I figured that Aunt Lauren was already down there. She was the kind of woman that got to a party early to help finish up cooking or whatever there was to get done before a dinner party started.

"Yeah," Tori agreed. Her voice was monotone, but for once, it wasn't sarcastic. She was looking into the trees that framed the cabins and the dirt road.

"I can't believe you got all dressed up for this." Simon said, motioning to the two of us girls.

Tori snorted. "_Dressed up_? Please, this is barely getting ready." She said, raising her eyebrows at him. Derek, still holding my hand, slowly maneuvered us behind the two of them. We walked side-by-side, our voices low as we listened to Tori and Simon argue.

I found myself wondering if Derek knew about the fact that Tori's mom had… well, had Kit's child without him knowing. Kit certainly knew. I figured that Kit wasn't dense and that he was able to put the pieces together. Plus, there was the undeniable similarities between her and Simon, even her and Kit himself.

Simon and Tori reached Kit's cabin first. Well, Tori did. She stomped right up to the door and slammed her fist on the wood. Aunt Lauren opened it, her hair tied back in a ponytail. She was just wearing jeans and a T-shirt, which made me feel really overdressed. Derek let me walk into the cabin in front of him. Kit looked up over the exact replica of the counter that was in the cabin I shared with Tori. I was starting to get a headache from seeing all these cabins that looked exactly the same.

Aunt Lauren's eyes narrowed in on me and Derek as we stepped in to the room. I reached back and caught Derek's hand, partly for comfort and partly to send a silent message to Aunt Lauren. She turned back to tossing a salad at the counter, not even saying anything to us as we stepped into the room.

Simon and Tori fell into the couch. Simon leaned back with his arms behind his head. Tori crossed her ankles as the two of them continued to argue about whatever they'd been arguing about before.

"Hi, Kit." I said. He nodded to me as I leaned against the counter. "You need any help?"

"No," He said, motioning towards the couch. "Go sit down with the others." He added lightly. He was watching me and Derek, too, his eyes narrowed as Derek sat down on an armchair. I started to walk to the armchair right next to him. He reached out and caught my hand.

It was reminiscent of that time when he and I had shared a computer screen while Tori stepped out of the room. Derek reached out for me and sat me down right on his knee. I felt my cheeks flush as Tori's mouth dropped open and Aunt Lauren narrowed her eyes. It seemed like Kit was trying to look everywhere in the room but us. One of Derek's hand rested on my practically nonexistent hip. He leaned back against the seat, and eventually I sat back against the arm of the chair. Kit and Aunt Lauren continued to cook in the kitchen, while Tori and Simon talked about shopping and what constituted as casual dress and dressing up.

"So," I said in a whispered voice. "Does anybody know about your wolf and… me?"

"Dad knows," Derek answered, his voice equally as soft. "I haven't told Simon yet. I don't know how he'll take it."

"I thought you said not to worry about him." I said.

"Well, I don't want _you_ to worry about him." He said back. His hand rubbed circles in my back, his knuckles rubbing over the bumps on my spine. Shivers traveled up my back. If Derek noticed, he had to good graciousness to not say anything. He just continued talking. "He doesn't mind about us, per se. But I think he'd have something to say about my wolf seeing you as a mate. Dating is different than mating." He added, and then I thought I caught a flush on his cheeks and down his neck. Good thing, too, because I was blushing like crazy.

Aunt Lauren cleared her throat. "Dinner's ready."

It was nice that Derek didn't catapult me off his lap to get to the food.

# # #

We were still sitting at the table when almost everyone was finished. Tori had picked through her meal like a supermodel when she's counting calories. I'd eaten my fill, and Aunt Lauren was a median between Tori and me. Kit was already finished, too. He'd taken all of our plates to the sink, except for Simon and Derek. I was starting to think that they were having a competition to see who was eating the most.

"Chloe," Kit spoke up. I jumped at the sound of my name. I'd been completely focused on the easy banter between the brothers as they picked through the leftovers. "Can I have a word with you?"

"Um, sure," I said, pushing my chair out from the table. I looked over to Derek, who gave me a slight nod and a smile as I stood up. Nervously, I brushed my hands over the thighs of my jeans. I figured that Kit would just lead me to the living room, where he'd whisper to me or something, but he headed towards the front door. He opened it up and let me step out into the night first.

Kit grabbed a flashlight from the windowsill by the door, since there weren't any lights down this path. I had a feeling that it had something to do with keeping the row of cabins virtually invisible. Kit flicked on the flashlight, and I was relieved that it worked. Too many horror movies had left me expecting every flashlight to not work. Or at least, to stop working the moment something scary crawled out of the woods.

We started walking, completely silent as we shuffled down the dirt path. Clouds of dirt gathered at our shoes as we walked. I figured that we were getting out of Derek's hearing range before he spoke. Finally, Kit said something. "Derek told me about the two of you."

I could feel the blush climbing up my neck as I walked by his father. "Y-yeah. We got into a f-fight. But it's okay, now. We t-talked t-things out."

"I saw," Kit said conversationally. "I just wanted to make sure that you knew what came with the territory, so to speak." He looked up, holding the flashlight in front of us. I could see the beam of light as it disappeared into the blackness ahead of us. "I know Lauren has probably talked to you about this."

"Not r-really," I said, giving a shaky shrug. I was worried that Kit was going to tell me that I needed to leave, to save Derek some trouble or something.

Kit looked up at me. I could only see half of his face. "Calm down, Chloe. I'm not going to tell you that you two need to keep separated or something." It was like he read my mind. Kit cleared his throat, "But you do have to be careful. It might be easy to forget, but Derek's a werewolf. He's a species that we, as other supernaturals, don't know much about. They don't mix with us, and we don't mix with them. Having Derek in the same study as you were was pure chance." He said. He glanced over at me again, and added, "You do know about Derek and his… siblings in the experiment?"

"Y-yes," I said. I cleared my throat. I could hear Liz's voice in my head, telling me to calm down and think it through. I took a deep breath. "Yes. They were all… terminated." I said, trying to make myself feel better by using the term that Dr. Davidoff had used.

Kit shook his head. "They were killed. They fought back, got rowdy. Derek was always an outsider with the other werewolves, and he's even more of an outsider now. He hangs out with supernaturals and not his own kind. His mate is a necromancer, not a werewolf like him. It's a big deal. Some people think that it's not healthy for him to be with us."

"He's safer with us." I said. It burst out of me, but I completely believed it. Other werewolves had tried to kill Derek. It reminded me of the pair of werewolves that had tracked us. Derek had killed one of them, even though it was by accident. Another shiver went down my spine. I'd almost forgotten about it – Derek had _killed_. He'd held a life in his hands. Yet I completely trusted mine in those same hands that had wrung the life from someone's neck.

"I agree," Kit replied. He gave me a small smile. "All I wanted to clarify with you is that not only is Derek a werewolf, he's a genetically altered one. He's the only one of his kind to have the experiments done on him. We don't have anything to compare him with. He doesn't show a weakness in his strength or his ability. His wolf seems that it is very good size, too. There's nothing that shows that he's weaker than a usual werewolf or stronger. Granted, his Change came somewhat like your powers did, Chloe, suddenly."

"Dr. Davidoff said that he might be a little stronger than average."

"Than average," Kit repeated. "It doesn't mean that he shows any difference." Our feet crunched on rocks as we continued to walk. I didn't know how long this path was. "Still, my point is that we're not one hundred percent sure what to expect from a regular werewolf, not to mention Derek. I just wanted to make sure that you were prepared for the way Derek will be treating you. His wolf is just as much of a person as he is, but it's also an animalistic side of him. Now that he's fully Changed, he can't hold the wolf at an arm's length like he could before. They are one in the same. Still, he'll be even more protective of you. He'll be very possessive of you, and he'll do anything for you."

I nodded. "Yes, I understand."

"One more thing, Chloe." Kit said, stopping suddenly. I realized that we'd come to the end of the cabins. A cabin stood stoically at the end of the road, blocking the dirt path from continuing. "I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't some sort of phase for you. It's clear to me right now that you two care for each other, but wolves mate for life." I swallowed. Was I willing to give Derek my whole life? Right now, the answer was yes. Completely, totally, honestly, _yes_. "Wolves are social animals. Derek has been isolated for too long, and if you left him for any reason… he'd become like a lone wolf. He wouldn't even be close to being the same he is now." Kit turned the flashlight back down the way we'd come. "I don't want to scare you, Chloe, but I don't want to see my son hurt. I'm sure you understand that."

I nodded. "I do." I cleared my throat nervously. I could hear Liz's voice in my head – _Calm down and think it through_. "I'm honestly not planning on leaving Derek anytime soon. I think… I think I love him." I said in a whisper. I hadn't meant to say that, but it had just come out.

Kit looked slightly appalled at the admission. I would be, too. "Well," Kit said, clearing his throat again. "I just wanted to make sure that you had an understanding of Derek and the way his wolf works. Ever since I adopted him, I've done extensive research on werewolves, through the files we had and through any other means. If you have any questions… Derek won't beat around the bush. But he's not as well educated as I would've liked him to be. I don't want him to make comparisons of the average with himself, though. So, you're free to come to me if you have any questions at all."

I sighed. "Thank you."

"Anytime." Kit replied. Together, we headed back to the cabin. Kit opened the door for me and switched off the flashlight, setting it off to the side on the windowsill.

The boys had finished eating, and it looked like Aunt Lauren had cleaned up Kit's kitchen. Tori sat on the couch and looked at her hair, searching for split ends. She sat up with a smile when I got there. Clearly, she'd been bored out of her mind with just Derek, Simon, and Aunt Lauren to talk to. It was nice to know that someone cared about my presence that much. Well, someone besides Derek.

The guy in question looked up when I stepped in, a sincere smile spreading across his face. I felt my heart pick up a little in its pace. I smiled at him and stepped back into the house, ignoring the gaze of my aunt as I walked up to Derek.

I tried to act normal.

Like I hadn't just told his father that I was in love with a werewolf.

**I think this might be my longest chapter for this story… and we've reached the double digits! Yay! Anyway, as promised, a chapter full of Chlerek. I'm a die-hard paranormal romance fan, if you guys haven't figured that out already. I promise that the plot isn't all Chlerek, though I will admit a large part of it is. (:**

**Don't forget to leave me a review and let me know what you guys think!**

**Peace. (:**


	11. Chapter 11

**So… here I was, watching Ghost Adventures reruns and eating my dinner (which I salted way too much, by the way) and coupled with the fact that fanfiction comes up as **_**numero dos**_** on my internet counter thingy, I've come to the conclusion that I need to update on this particular story. Besides, nobody can stay away from Chloe and Derek for too long. Ha.**

**pixies114 – **_**i muchos gracias! **_**I'll admit, I love Chloe and Derek, too. :P**

**FireDitto – thank you! I'm glad you've liked it so far! (Plus, it's always fun to add another Darkest Powers groupie to the crowd.) (;**

**The Darkest Powers trilogy belongs to Kelley Armstrong!**

I knew something was bad when there was a tapping on my bedroom window in the middle of the night. Of course, that didn't stop me from tiredly getting out of bed and going to the window. Honestly, I was half-expecting a ghost to be standing there, somehow confused about the fact that it could fade through the walls. Or a corpse that I'd accidentally risen, trying to find its way to me. Or even Derek, trying to get my attention for a midnight stroll (which would be a first, but definitely the most wanted out of the options.)

What I least expected is what I got – Aunt Lauren, a bag strapped over her shoulder. My eyebrows knotted together in the middle, and I reached for the lock on the window pane. I flicked it open, wincing slightly at the loud click it gave. I scrabbled for a minute, trying to urge the window open. Finally, it rose with a loud groan.

"Chloe," Aunt Lauren wasted no time, leaning towards me the moment the glass was higher than eye level. "I know you've made up your mind, but really, I think you're making the wrong decision. Grab your bag and come with me."

"W-what?" I asked, shocked and confused. Aunt Lauren shifted the strap on her shoulder. She gave me an exasperated look, one that I'd only seen cross her mind when she was giving it to me over the shoulder of an annoying coworker. She'd never used it on me before.

"You're not educated on all of this. I know you think you know everything, but you're only a teenager. I remember being a teenager, too. There are lots of things that you haven't learned yet. Just come with me. You'll regret staying here, Chloe. There are only bad things to come from this."

"What are y-you t-talking about?" I asked, leaning back from the window. Aunt Lauren looked like she was possibly contemplating climbing on through. I doubted it, though. She just seemed too _old_ to be climbing through bedroom windows. "W-why didn't you j-just come around to the f-f-front?"

"I didn't want Tori to hear me. Come on, then." Aunt Lauren said. Her eyebrows drew together when I didn't move. "What are you waiting for?"

"I can't leave." I forced out.

Aunt Lauren's eyes softened, like she pitied me. "I know it feels that way. I saw the way Derek grabbed you tonight. I know you're scared to tell him to back off. He's a lot stronger than both of us. But you don't have to be controlled by him, honey." She said. The endearment sounded wrong the moment she said it. "Come with me. We'll take the van and take it to town. We'll find a different car to take and leave the van for them to pick up. You and I can be gone by the time they wake up."

"You're c-c-crazy!" The words slipped, albeit stuttered, from my lips. Aunt Lauren thought that I didn't want to leave because I was afraid of what Derek would do to me? I wasn't afraid of Derek! Why couldn't she see that? It wasn't like we were trying to be secretive about it.

"Abusive, controlling relationships aren't good for anybody, Chloe."

"I'm not in an abusive, controlling relationship." I said sharply. Surprisingly, my stutter was immediately gone the moment she insinuated that Derek would ever hurt me. Derek would never lay a hand on me if I told him not to. Of course, right at that moment, I got a flash from the past, when Derek had grabbed my arm in a musty old basement, filled with the sound of a cheap washing machine. But that had been before Derek and I discovered our interest in each other. That was before he thought that I could be an ally instead of an enemy.

Aunt Lauren gave me a serious look, like she remembered it, too. I could easily recall the oval-shaped, fingerprint bruises on my arm. I remembered hiding them under my shirt sleeve, accidentally revealing them to Aunt Lauren. I remembered Simon coming up to me, mad that I'd "thrown" accusations, even though I hadn't.

That was before. This was the now.

"It's time you come with me, Chloe. I agreed to stay with this group while it was good for us. Clearly, it's not good for us anymore."

Now was the time to put my foot down. I felt the new Chloe, the one that had figured out how to stand up for what she wanted, bubble to the surface. It was almost like taking on a new skin, which was creepy and very science fiction in movie genres.

"I'm not leaving." I said, deciding not to mention the fact that I'd just promised Kit hours before that I wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. "I'm not leaving Derek. I belong with him."

"You're only fifteen," Aunt Lauren said sadly. "You can't know where you belong yet. You've got a whole world and years of lessons to experience before you can make that decision."

I leaned forward, each word carefully enunciated. It felt like an alternate Chloe had taken over, one that had a personality more like Tori's. "I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions. I belong with Derek, and that's where I'm going to stay. There's a possibility that I don't have years to _experience_, since I'm on the Cabals hit list."

"That's from interacting with people you shouldn't have." Aunt Lauren's eyes were watering, but her voice was sharp and very bitter.

My voice, in return, was just as bitter. "It's because of what someone did to me before I was even born."

I figured Aunt Lauren felt the guilt, because she was the one who had told my mother about the procedure that had made me into a supercharged necromancer. Aunt Lauren lowered her eyes for a moment, and then she looked back up at me. I tried not to waver at the sight of her tears. Usually, I would've snapped by now. But she was threatening to take me away from the one person that I'd trusted most.

"Chloe," She said, her voice equally hurt and apologetic.

Finally, I blurted out the words that I'd been thinking the whole time, the ones that I still hadn't decided whether or not I was going to tell her. "I'm Derek's mate!" I said, a little louder than I intended to. Aunt Lauren's eyes grew wider, and then she shook her head sharply.

"I'm not leaving without you." She said, "But I'll wait. I will prove to you that Derek is just lying to you to keep you around. Goodnight, Chloe." She said. She turned around and walked back into the darkness. I heard the slam of her door, and I sighed, standing there for a moment longer. Finally, I reached up and pulled the window closed, snapping the lock shut I stood there for a moment longer, only until Aunt Lauren's bedroom light came on, and I saw her bag get thrown onto the bed.

I hadn't wanted to be separated from her, but she'd continually pushed at us. She'd constantly insinuated that I wasn't able to make educated decisions. She wanted to pull me away from Derek, from Simon, from Tori. And I wasn't going to let her.

I was starting to think that we'd all be better off if Aunt Lauren and the rest of us went our separate ways.

# # #

Aunt Lauren was still in her cabin when I woke up the next morning. I took a shower before Tori was even awake, got dressed, and started breakfast. Simon, Derek, and I decided that we needed to do something reminiscent of the days where it had been just us. Even though we liked the fact that there was someone older and wiser to lead us, we missed the days where it had been just us, and we hadn't had to worry about anyone else. Surprisingly, I missed the days where we had been on the run, sleeping in warehouses and eating on the run at the cheapest places we could find. We weren't going to do anything drastic – just an exploratory walk through the woods behind the cabins. We'd invited Tori to join us, and she'd said that she would think about it. I thought it had something to do with the fact that Tori hated the times where we'd been poor and alone.

I'd zoned out, thinking about the rest of the day, so I jumped when the microwave beeped. I reached out and pressed the button deftly, pulling out the bacon that I'd put in there a few minutes ago. It smelled pretty good, and I was halfway surprised that Derek wasn't at the door, knocking and begging for just a few pieces of it. I set it out on a plate and carefully scrambled eggs. I wasn't exactly a good cook, but I'm able to do the basic things – pouring out a bowl of cereal, popping a few strips of bacon into the microwave, and cracking open a few eggs to scramble in a skillet. I was almost done scrambling eggs when Tori's bedroom door opened. She raised her eyebrows at me, and then gave a short shrug. She grabbed a plate from the cupboard and helped herself to what I'd already laid out.

I didn't mention the fact that Aunt Lauren had been at my window last night, trying to persuade me to leave. I didn't know if it was just because she didn't want to be alone with Simon and Derek, or if she'd actually grown to see me as a friend, but Tori was intent on making sure that I wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon. I didn't want her to freak out on my aunt, no matter how mad she made me. The last thing I needed was for her to explode or something because Tori's magic had gotten out of control.

"Are you coming with us?"

"For a walk in the woods? No thanks," Tori replied shortly, reaching for her glass of water. She downed half of it and cleared her throat. "It doesn't seem like a good idea, though. Too many bad things happen out in the woods, and I'm speaking from experience." She was right. We'd had to fight our way through the woods when we were escaping the faked Edison Group behind Andrew's house. The two werewolves that had been sent to kill Derek had found us in the woods. I'd seen one of my most memorable residual hauntings in the woods, just after one of Derek's pre-Change incidents.

"There's nothing out there. Ezekiel and Maggie probably would've warned us about that."

"Unless they didn't know." I was beginning to think that Tori's talent outside of creating fireballs by bursts of anger was being a pessimistic cynic.

"It'll be me, Derek, _and_ Simon."

"I'll think about it," Tori said. Her tone said that she was already saying no, but didn't want to argue with me about it anymore. It sort of surprised me. It seems like Tori would jump at the chance to fight anybody. With the conversation dropped, the two of us chewed silently on our breakfasts. All I heard for a good minute or so was the sound of crunchy bacon and the slight slurp if one of us took a drink.

I heard a knock on the door, and I jumped up out of my seat, chugging the rest of my water. Tori looked at the door, and then to me. I was already dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Tori was still wearing a pair of cotton short shorts and a tank top. She raised her eyebrows at me, hair mused and eyes looking sleepy.

"So, you're leaving me to clean up?"

"Please?" I asked, giving her my best rendition of the puppy-dog face. Tori rolled her eyes and gave a snort.

"Whatever. Don't get lost in the woods with wolf-boy." She said, turning her back to me as she continued to eat. I gave her a smile even though she couldn't see it, and headed straight for the door. Simon and Derek were here early. We'd decided that we'd start after breakfast, but I was honestly expecting to be lying around for a little way, since the both of them tended to sleep in. Besides, I figured that they would be eating a bunch before we headed out anyway, which was bound to take them a little while longer.

Derek was standing right on the other side of the door. His green eyes glowed as he gave me a slight smile. Simon was standing behind him, looking down the road, his blonde spikes already drooping like they were tired, too. "Are you ready?" Derek asked, peering behind me and into the kitchen. Tori still sat with her back to the door.

"Yeah," I said, glancing over my shoulder. Derek didn't say anything about Tori, surprisingly silent as she continued to eat her breakfast. I didn't say anything either, but we gave each other serious looks. I loved the way that we could communicate with our eyes so effectively.

I headed down the steps with the two of them. I closed the door behind me, and we angled ourselves towards the woods. That's when I heard the sound of a door opening and slamming behind us. I turned, thinking that it was Tori. Derek, whose hand was already on my elbow, turned to look with me.

Instead of a dark-haired witch, we saw my aunt stepping towards us with a purpose. My heard immediately rose in my throat, and Derek gave me a look. I figured that maybe he could feel my heartbeat, and he was wondering what the heck I was freaking out about when it came to my aunt. Aunt Lauren looked angry, though, a lot angrier than I'd ever seen her before, even when I spilled my slushie in the back seat of her new car.

"Derek, can I have a word with you?" She asked. Her voice sounded like it was barely controlled.

I looked up at Derek, and then at my aunt. "Aunt Lauren," I said quietly. Her eyes drifted to mine, and then they snapped back to the tall werewolf who stood at my side. Derek gave me a look, and I tried to tell him no. He gave a slight shrug, reached out and touched the side of my face with the side of his hand, and then turned to face Aunt Lauren.

"Sure," He said, stepping away from Simon and me. We stared after him as he stepped closer to Aunt Lauren. She started whispering feverishly to him, and I could feel my face and neck flushing. I couldn't believe this was happening. I was hoping that she wasn't talking about what we'd talked about the night before. She seemed intent on thinking that Derek was just being an over controlling boyfriend, but that wasn't even close.

Derek shook his head. I heard him say, in his average, everyday voice, "I'm not lying." My heart pounded its way into my throat.

That's when I heard Aunt Lauren start talking louder. "How could you do that to her? You know that she's just fifteen!" She said. I felt like shrinking into a speck. I was sort of hoping that the world would come up and swallow me whole.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Derek said, holding out his hands.

"That's bull!" Aunt Lauren called out. I felt like hiding behind Simon. I'd never seen or heard Aunt Lauren act like this. She was usually very calm and businesslike. Was she going insane from all the pressure? I mean, we were all stressing out, but Aunt Lauren was quickly reaching the breaking point.

Simon stepped closer to the two of them, and the door of the cabin that I shared with Tori opened up. The witch in question leaned out and looked at Derek and Aunt Lauren. She gave me a confused look, and then continued to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"I swear! I didn't do it on purpose! The wolf sees Chloe as its mate and I can't –" Derek was trying to get it all out in a rush, and Aunt Lauren looked completely stressed out. Before I could even blink, Aunt Lauren whipped out a weapon. I couldn't see what it was from where I stood – where was she getting all these weapons from, anyway? – and I opened my mouth to call out to Derek.

Right about that time, Simon ran forward, already preparing to use his knock-back spell. Before he could reach them, though, Derek had taken a colossal step backwards. But they were still too close to my aunt, who had obviously lost it. Before anybody could even take a step, Aunt Lauren was suddenly frozen where she stood. Simon and Derek looked at each other and back to me. I glanced over to Tori, who had her arms out, concentrating on my aunt. She was obviously holding a binding spell.

Derek reached out and grabbed the weapon from her hand. He held it up. It wasn't a gun, but a Taser. It was one that I was sure I'd seen before, probably one that she kept with her just in case of any crazies. Derek moved towards me just as Kit opened his cabin door. He stared blankly at the whole scene. Simon stood off to the side, hands in his pockets as he stared at the ground. I stood off in the middle of the path, hands covering my mouth. Aunt Lauren was frozen with one hand up. Tori had her hands out, eyes narrowed on my aunt. Derek was holding the Taser above his head, like he'd just one it as an award.

Kit looked really, really mad.

# # #

Kit said that he was going to talk to Aunt Lauren. She was so stressed about the mate thing that she'd completely lost it. While Tori still held her in place, I whispered to Kit that it might be a good idea to convince her to go a different way. She knew a lot about all of us – she knew the van and its license plate number. If she told anybody, we'd be in trouble. But it was better than her trying to harm Derek or trying to steal me away at every turn. The van license plate we could change. The things she was trying to do were not changeable.

Derek, who'd heard me, looked just as surprised as his father when I told Kit that. I guess they figured that I was going to want to keep Aunt Lauren around, but she was causing more trouble than she diverted. Besides, we should be moving on, anyway, trying to find Rae and Peter and tell them about the experiment. Kids like Peter, who'd been successfully "rehabilitated" weren't as dangerous as people like me or Tori, or even Liz, who'd been unable to keep our powers in check.

Tori decided to go back into the cabin, already tired from wasting energy by concentrating so hard on the binding spell that had held my aunt in place. Kit told the rest of us to go ahead and take our walk in the woods, but warned us that we needed to keep close just in case. He led Aunt Lauren into his cabin, and I couldn't help but hope that things were going to get a lot easier from here on out.

Derek's large hand took mine as we wandered towards the woods. Simon was talking animatedly about the comic book slash journal that the two of us had been working on, describing our journeys. We weren't even close to being halfway done with the book. Simon was making well on his part to draw and color our story, but I was falling behind on the narration of it.

Derek was silent as I walked in between the two brothers. He just listened to Simon and me as we discussed the best scenes to put into the book. "What about when you guys got off the bus?" Simon asked. "Do you want to put your trip to Andrew's in there?"

I glanced over at Derek, trying not to look like we were hiding a secret. I couldn't remember if I'd ever told Simon about the residual haunting I'd seen in the woods, and Derek's pre-Changes weren't the most pleasant things to see. But our journey away from Tori and Simon might've been interesting enough.

"Sure," I said, giving him a smile. Simon had devoted most of his free time to the book. Now that we were relatively safe for the time being, he was spending more time than ever on drawing and colors sketches.

Simon shot me a grin. "Have you been working on the storyline?" He asked.

"Sort of," I answered back. I'd written little parts here and there when Derek and I hadn't been talking. It wasn't much, and it probably wasn't any good since I'd been so focused on what had gone wrong with Derek to really pay attention to what I'd been writing down. It was probably full of grammatical errors and misspellings.

Simon gave me another smile as we continued to walk through the woods. Derek was on hyper alert the entire time, like he thought we'd run into someone or something out here. Ezekiel and Maggie seemed pretty sure that the place was relatively safe from anybody else. There weren't that many people here to begin with – just our group, and a few others who, despite us having been there for a while, we'd never met. They stayed holed up in their cabins the entire time, and refused to come out.

Derek took a deep breath, his hand tightening on mine. "I smell something." He said in a low voice. Simon looked over at his brother, pausing in his step. "It smells… dead, I think. I think there's a newly dead animal nearby. Don't get all worked up about anything, Chloe." He said in warning.

I pressed myself a little closer to his side, determined that nothing would bother me as long as Derek was nearby.

**Okay, so I admit to the last little bit being chapter fluff. But it serves its purpose! Sort of….**

**Anyway. I hoped you liked this last chapter. Any ideas on what's going to happen with Aunt Lauren? Hmm?**

**Leave me a review, even if you didn't like it! I'm a review junkie! :D**


	12. Chapter 12

**I just wanted to let you guys know about my other story here in the Darkest Powers section. You can either click on my name to see a list of my stories or search for it in the forum – it's called The Hidden Truth. It's about a girl who has these powers and lots of questions, and she finds the answers with a group of kids (Simon, Tori, Derek, and Chloe) who seem to have all the answers. Please, please, PLEASE check it out! Those of you who have followed this story (thank you guys, by the way) know that I love reviews. Haha. (:**

**RandomReader15 – you know, that's a good guess, and you're on the right path, but Aunt Lauren is alive and well.**

**3DarkestPowers – You're on to something! Yes, the other members living on the ranch are going to become evident in these next few chapters as our loveable characters deal with a bump in the road before deciding what they need to do. (:**

**SweetDreamz3116 – Indeed she has. Lauren has always seemed a little more on the crazy end for me, anyway!**

**moon-called-princess – :D!**

**Vero Diaz – It's right here! (:**

**The Darkest Powers series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

"You really think that your aunt should leave?" Derek asked. We were still walking in the woods, Derek holding my hand in his and Simon on my other side. Simon cleared his throat as he stepped over a fallen branch. I didn't answer right away. Aunt Lauren had done some things in the past that I'd forgiven, but she'd completely lost it earlier this morning when she started waving a Taser at Derek. I couldn't even imagine where she would've gotten a Taser in the first place. Clearly, she'd been holding out on me. Simon stepped on a pile of leaves, their crunching filling the silence. "Chloe?"

"Yes," I blurted. Derek's hand tightened on mine for just a second before completely releasing it all together. "I think she should leave. She's not helping us with anything."

"She _is_ a doctor, though." Simon said lightly. I turned to look at him with raised eyebrows. I would've never thought that Simon would defend my aunt, no matter how innocuous the comment. She'd waved a _Taser_ at his brother, for God's sake. Clearly, she was causing tension in our little group that we really, really didn't need. And, she seemed intent on making sure that Derek and I weren't together. It was just too much trouble for me to deal with.

I wasn't aware of the fact that Derek had slowly been walking away, heading in a different direction. I stopped when Simon did. His eyes were trained on his brother as he stepped through the trees. If he kept going, it wouldn't be long before I couldn't see him anymore. Simon didn't say anything. He didn't move either.

"Derek, where are you –?" I paused in my words, feeling whatever Derek was heading towards. Derek had said that there was a dead body out in the woods around here somewhere. I remembered using my abilities to find the homeless man that had died in the warehouse. It was a sense of uneasiness that washed over me and got stronger the closer I got to death. My spine shivered at the thought of something dead out in the woods. It could've been a bird, for all I knew, but it seemed like no dead bodies were safe around me. "Derek," I called out again. "Can we please go?" I didn't want to hang around and see whatever it was.

Derek turned to look at me. He was just about to push back a tree branch. His nostrils flared as he looked at me. It was obvious that he'd wanted to find whatever it was. Clearly, something was bothering him about the dead body. He'd said it had to be fresh, and that it was just an animal. Maybe he thought someone was out here hunting or something. Of course, it could be any of the other residents here at the ranch, who hadn't even bothered to meet us. I guess that could be said both ways, since we hadn't exactly stretched out a hand to them, either. He gave a slow nod, throwing a look over his shoulder, back into the trees, before walking towards me. His hand caught mine, and we turned back the way we'd come.

Derek was on edge throughout our entire walk. Simon and I spent the time talking about the book that we were making. It was truly the only thing that we could do that was something other than destroying things or worrying about what we were going to do or what was going to happen to us. It was easily becoming an obsession for Simon. I guess it would make sense. It was easier to dwell on the things that we'd overcome than it was to think about what we hadn't faced yet.

We reached the edge of the woods, opening up onto the dirt path that was lined with cabins. We walked in the tiny alley between cabins. I thought that I was going to have to talk to Kit about Aunt Lauren. It was decided – she needed to go. It hurt me because she was my only family, by blood, here with me. Simon and Derek were brothers and Kit was their father. Even Tori was related to Simon and Kit, though she had no idea. It was like being an add-on in a family, but it was better than having to watch my back around my aunt. There were things that I could forgive her for, but now she'd crossed the line one too many times.

I wasn't expecting the chaos that we met when we stepped out onto the dirt path. Ezekiel and Maggie were talking to Kit and a tall man that was halfway bent over, his back like a hump as he lowered his head to be closer to everyone else. He was wearing a dirty, tan cowboy hat and a buttoned and tucked in plaid shirt. He reminded me of an old John Wayne movie. Derek pulled me closer immediately, his face lifting up into the air as he took a deep breath. I could feel his chest expanding at my side. Simon froze next to me. Out of the corner of my eye, it looked like he was just barely trembling. John Wayne looked up, his gaze narrowing on Derek. I clutched him a little tighter as the old cowboy's eyes moved from the tall werewolf at my side down to me.

Derek held me tighter in return. He bent down to whisper in my ear. "He's a werewolf, I think. But he doesn't smell… bad." I held onto his arm a little tighter at the word "werewolf." All the other werewolves we'd run into had tried to cause trouble. Liam and Raymond, the two werewolves that had jumped us before had tried to kill us. The only way we'd survived was Derek snapping Liam's neck by accident. Then after that, Andrew had wanted to hand Derek over to the werewolves, hoping that they wouldn't want to completely tear him to shreds. Werewolves were _bad_ news, for the most part. Derek was the only "good" werewolf I'd ever heard of.

"And he's talking to dad," Simon pointed out, his whisper a little more haggard than Derek's. "That means he can't be all that bad, right?"

"Don't know," Derek replied gruffly. He seemed tense all over, which would stand to reason. He was also holding me close, like he was scared someone was going to reach out and take me away from him. Kit hadn't said anything about Derek acting like he owned me, but I figured it had something to do with the presence of another werewolf. It seemed the werewolves had a lot of habits that regular wolves did. I figured that one of them had to do with protecting a mate from someone who might threaten them. Derek was scared for _me_, and it warmed my heart to realize that. Especially since, when we first met, he'd thought I was lying about seeing ghosts, and he had wanted nothing to do with me.

Kit's eyes followed John Wayne's gaze, leading directly to us. His face looked instantly relieved, and then he seemed very depressed. I'd even go so far to call him slightly disappointed. Derek leaned forward a little bit, as if Kit was going to whisper and it was going to fly to him on the wind. John Wayne, the only other werewolf who hadn't immediately headed towards us without obviously looking like he wanted to kill us, gave Derek an amused look, his eyes traveling down to me and then back to Kit. He said something, and Derek stood straight. Simon glanced over at his brother and shook his head.

Derek's grasp released all of me but my hand, his fingers still tightened around mine. He started walking, drawing me behind him. Simon kept up at the rear, looking over his shoulder like he expected something to melt out of the shadows. It wasn't the first time I wished that Liz was here, giving me the low down on what had been happening while I was gone. Instead, we just had to rely on Derek's heightened senses. Granted, that wasn't incredibly awful, but still.

Kit cleared his throat as the three of us drew closer. "Where's Tori?"

"The cabin," I replied. I tried not to look at John Wayne like I was expecting him to attack one of us. I didn't think Derek was doing to same thing. In fact, I was pretty sure that he was glaring heartlessly at the tall, humpbacked werewolf. I nudged him in the side, and he glanced down at me. John Wayne looked amused.

Kit nodded at my answer, and then motioned to us. "These are my sons, Simon and Derek, and Derek's _mate_, Chloe." I didn't miss the way he specified that Derek and I were together, though I had the feeling John Wayne knew it. "This is John. Derek, I think you already know that John is a werewolf like you." He raised his eyebrows at his adopted son. I was sure my eyes were popping out of my head.

"John _Wayne_?" I asked. I knew that the werewolf wasn't the late John Wayne, but I couldn't contain the outburst.

The werewolf chuckled. "No, little lady," He said, his voice low and his southern accent extremely heavy. He gave me a wink. "It's a pleasure to meet a young woman who's not afraid of her werewolf counterpart."

"Um, thanks?" I replied. John just laughed again, a throaty, deep chuckle.

He looked Derek over. "Well, aren't you a big guy? Ever been in a fight?" He asked. Derek was stiff right next to me. John laughed, like someone had just given him a reward. "I take that as a yes. Probably protecting your little girl, there, huh?" A low growl rolled out of Derek's chest. I could feel it vibrating through me just by his hand wrapped around mine.

"John," Kit said, partly to catch his attention, partly to give a warning to the older werewolf. Derek had been in a fight with an older werewolf, and he'd been outnumbered and outclassed. I had a feeling that John, despite seeming to be in his later years, could probably hold his own in a fight. He could probably _win_ a fight between the two of them. And I didn't want Derek to fight him at all. I didn't need a wounded, stressed out boyfriend.

The older werewolf seemed to keep himself in check, blinking back an animalistic urge to challenge Derek. I had the feeling that it was because they didn't belong to the same pack, and the land was technically up for grabs. He cleared his throat, and turned to look at Kit. "Right, well, what would ya'll like me to do about it?" He asked. "Ain't like I can tell who did it just by smellin' it."

"What are you guys talking about?" Simon asked, the first time he'd said something since we'd walked over here.

"The body," Derek said, like it suddenly came to him. "The body in the woods. Who was it?"

John shrugged. "A girl, one of the others that stay in their cabin and refuse to come out," He said it like we should already know all about it. I'd thought about the other people who never came out of their cabins. It was like it was just our little group. I guess that might have been because we were so hopelessly entangled in our own problems to really wonder why no one else had come forth to meet us.

"How'd she die?" Derek asked, looking up at the older werewolf.

"Like I said, I don't know," John replied. He sounded a little cocky, even. I guess that would make sense, if you were a werewolf that spent time hiding away on an out-of-the-way Texas ranch. I remembered Liam's ghost telling Derek that life for a werewolf was hard. That they weren't accepted by the others. That they were outcasts. If John had the same outlook, he'd probably blocked out all the other people in his life, choosing instead to pretend like no one else mattered.

"What does this mean?" He asked. When no one answered him, he looked over at Kit. "Dad? What does this mean?"

"I don't know yet, Derek. Ezekiel and Maggie have no idea how this would have even happened. It's clear that the girl's wounds aren't self-inflicted." I winced at hearing the words. "Which means that someone has to have done this to her. Nobody's allowed in or out of the ranch without the code, which means it has to be one of us." They way Kit said it was scary. It made me shiver, scared out of my mind. If someone had murdered a girl… why hadn't I seen her ghost out in the woods? As I looked at John, I couldn't help but wonder about something else – how come Derek hadn't been able to smell John the moment we got here?

I was about to ask when Kit cleared his throat. "We need to talk to your aunt, Chloe. But I wanted to talk to you about it first, with Derek, Simon, and Tori. We need to… talk about what we're going to tell her. I believe in your judgment, Chloe, but we need to talk about this as a family."

John pretended not to be interested, but it was clear that he was listening in. Hopefully, it wouldn't make any sense to him. I bit down on my lip, giving Kit a slow nod. "When?"

"This evening. We're not going to solve this crime today. We won't even be able to solve it right now. We're having dinner tonight with your aunt, so I'd like to talk to you before that. Say, be at my cabin at four?"

"Deal, dad, we'll be there." Derek said.

Kit nodded. "Go on, then. I'll see you later." He said. Derek's hand tightened on mine for a moment, and then he nodded at his dad and turned me around, towards the cabin that he shared with Simon. Simon, staying uncharacteristically quiet, followed us.

# # #

Derek was intent on being punctual. He kept looking at the clock, acting like he didn't want to be late to a job interview or something. He was incredibly twitchy. I think _I_ should've been the twitchy one, since it was clear that we were going to be discussing whether it would be right to ask my aunt to leave without me, and to refrain from saying anything after we went our separate ways. Aunt Lauren wasn't going to make this easy on us, I could already tell. It was like she'd taking a dive off of the cliff of sanity and was currently drowning in the craziness. I didn't know how to save her, though.

I kept my eyes downcast on the board game that Simon had found in the hall closet. It was so old, that none of us had even heard of it before. Simon had had to pour over the instructions for half an hour before figuring out how to set up the board game. Now that we were playing it, there was obviously a reason as to why it was hidden in the closet for all these years. It really wasn't even half as good as the classic Monopoly.

"It's almost time to get to dad's cabin." Derek said as Simon rolled the ancient, yellowing dice. He was the only one getting into the game. I tried to pretend to be interested just to keep him entertained. Derek had given up a while ago, leaning back in his seat. He was nervously twisting the sides of a Rubik's cube, which had also been hidden in the depths of the closet. My cabin didn't have any old board games or puzzles. It had just been full of dust.

"Chill out, Derek," Simon replied, pushing his little character across the board. He looked up and gave his adopted brother a smile. "Dad will still be there waiting. Let's just finish this game."

Derek twisted another section of the cube, creating an entirely blue side. He turned to the orange side, continuing to switch colors and tiles. "We're leaving in two minutes, whether the game is finished or not." He said pointedly, not looking up from the cube. Simon huffed as I picked up the dice and rolled. I really wanted to talk about John, but I had the feeling that Derek didn't want to talk about him. Just having another werewolf around made Derek extremely nervous, though I guessed he had the right to be freaking out.

Derek continued to twist the cube as I pushed my character along. Simon rolled for Derek, but he wasn't even bothering to read out the cards anymore. He just played for the two of them, completely into the game. I had my back to Derek, so I only knew he was still playing with the cube because of the sounds it made. Simon was silent, too, reading the cards to himself before rolling the dice across the board. I took a deep breath and leaned back against Derek's legs. The sounds of the cube twisting paused for a moment, and I was worried that he was going to softly push me back up so that I wasn't leaning on him. After a minute, the cube noises started up again, and I let out the breath I wasn't aware that I'd been holding.

I heard Derek set the cube down on the table, and was surprised to feel his hand on the back of my neck. It sent shivers down my spine. Good shivers. Simon was too into the board game to notice to two of us, but I had a weird feeling that he would be weird about it. Simon was glad that Derek had found someone, but it was also sort of clear that he was sad, maybe even still a little hurt, at the fact that whatever we'd had didn't work.

"It's time to go," Derek said, his hand pulling away from my neck, his fingers brushing over my skin as he stood up fluently. He raised his eyebrows at Simon, who was halfway through the game. "The game's not going to move, Simon. You can come back and play all you want when we get back."

Simon sighed, and then stood up, rolling the dice out onto the board as he did so. "Aw man," He said, pointing to the numbers that the yellowed dice had landed on. "I needed those numbers."

I tried not to laugh at him as Derek motioned towards the door. As we stepped out, I glanced over to Aunt Lauren's cabin. I could see her sitting in the living room with a book through the front window. I ducked my head, thinking that we were going to be asking her to leave soon. I had no idea how she would react, not when she was acting so out of character lately. I just hoped that she accepted it and moved on.

"Everything will be okay, Chloe," Derek said from behind me, his hand resting on the small of my back for a moment. I couldn't help but give a slight smile as I looked away from Aunt Lauren's cabin and down the path to Kit's. Hopefully, after this, everything would be fine.

I should've known that bad stuff had its ways of following us, though.

**Click on the Review Button, because it's oh-so-beautiful! (:**

**Thanks for reading! PEACE.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank everyone for the reviews (: You guys know that I really do love them. Haha.**

**Ty Che – Thanks! Tori really is one of my favorite characters to write. She's so brash it's awesome (:**

**JoyToTheWorld – I promise you, it wasn't meant to come across that way. In my little story, Derek only sees his chance when he's about to Change. In no way did I mean to imply that he only cares for her when his wolf side is coming out. In this fanfiction, he's deeply and hopelessly in love with her. (;**

**Linda Chicana – I second that vote! :D**

**hawaiingrl – Indeed, it would be very creepy if Lauren had a crush on Derek. Don't worry though, his relationship with Chloe is practically written in stone… or is it? Muahaha (:**

**Raella – Thank you very much!**

**Darkest Powers belongs to Kelley Armstrong, not me (though I wish I could have the joy of owning such a wonderful series… but alas, I don't.)**

"Chloe," Kit looked at me very seriously. "Lauren is some use to us – she is a doctor, after all." I was a little chagrined at his words. Simon had said close to the same exact things to me earlier. "Are you sure that you think she's hurting us rather than helping us?"

I stared at him blankly. Tori wasn't even here, though she should've been. It was just me in a very testosterone-filled room, and to make matters worse, Kit hadn't even waited a moment before getting down to business on our family vote about my aunt. I never would've thought, in my entire life, that I would be wishing for Tori to be here, to be a barrier for me with her snarky attitude and sarcastic bite. "You saw what she did to Derek. You heard what she said," I whispered.

Derek's hand rubbed over my back. Kit watched the movement of his arm carefully. It was like he accepted the idea of me and Derek being together, but he didn't. He seemed to think that I was going to just drop out and leave the moment I got the chance. Or maybe he was thinking the other way around, that Derek's whole mate thing was just a misinterpretation of feelings. I sort of got choked up at hearing that. Simon was silent, sitting on the armchair across from me. His feet were spread apart, his hands clasped between his knees as he leaned forward, staring at his shoes. It sort of looked like he was praying. I'd never known Simon to be the religious type, but maybe he was.

Derek cleared his throat. "You don't have to say goodbye to your aunt because of me, Chloe. I can handle her. I'll stay out of her way. You don't want to lose her, do you?" I looked up into his green eyes. He was supposed to be completely on my side, not making me second guess myself. "You want her to still be in your life, don't you? You don't want to turn her against you." The way he was searching my face, I thought that maybe he thought I was just doing this because of the incident with the tranquilizer and the Taser. But it wasn't just about him. It was about _me_. She didn't trust me to take care of myself and to read my own emotions correctly. In the words of Forrest Gump, _I know what love is_.

"Stop, Derek," I said, a little more sharply than I meant to. His hand froze on the small of my back, and then slowly pulled away. Simon shifted in his seat, and Kit looked uneasy. I bit down on my lip. "D-Derek, I-I-I didn't mean –"

"Calm down and think it through," He said lightly, just a whisper. It felt so personal that I almost forgot about his brother and father, sitting there and waiting for me to say something about my aunt, who had clearly fallen off the wagon; possibly hitting her head on the way down. I found myself unconsciously leaning forward, his face incredibly close to mine. With just a tip of my chin, I could press my lips to his. The thought ran across my mind as I swallowed nervously. Someone cleared their throat, and I glanced away from the green-eyed, dark-haired werewolf in front of me. Derek let out a pent-up breath and shook his head, moving his hair from his eyes.

"She needs to go," I said. I wasn't looking anywhere in particular – more like I was staring down at Simon's shoes – old, worn sneakers that had definitely seen their better days. I think most of _us_ had seen our better days. "She's not just threatening you, Derek. She's trying to take me away." His hand immediately encased mine, fingers splaying out along the length of my wrist. "I don't want to go." I heard the hitch in my breath, a warning that I was about to start crying. It felt like it had been such a long time since I'd cried, though it had only been a few weeks – the last time being when Derek had given me such a crappy answer. I hoped I never heard "I don't know" come from his lips again. "She's not the same person she was. _I'm_ not the same person I was." There it was, the confession that was building up in my chest, a constant pressure that made breathing a little hard.

One of Derek's hands cupped my cheek. "You're the same Chloe that I met at the Lyle House, okay?" He said it in a low whisper. I swear, I was about to melt. I swallowed nervously, glancing at Kit out of my peripheral vision. Kit looked amused, but he also seemed a little reserved. I had no idea what that was all about, but it was enough to make me lean back from Derek. I pulled my knees up onto the couch and turned to lean my back against his arm. Simon was practically twiddling his thumbs.

Just then, the front door burst open and Tori peered inside. "Well, don't get too excited to see me." She said, tapping the heel of her impractical boot on the cement doorstep. She stepped into the house and closed the door soundly behind her. She looked over us – Simon in his chair, Kit in a chair that he'd pulled up from his kitchen table, and me and Derek sitting on the couch – and snorted. She collapsed into the other chair and kicked her boots up onto the small table in front of her. "If this is about Chloe's crazy aunt, I think she should leave. ASAP."

"Thanks for the vote, Tori," Simon said sarcastically under his breath. He sat up in his chair and gave me a short, apologetic glance before looking back at his father. "I think she should go, too, dad. Sorry, Chloe," He added, like he thought that he was personally hurting my feelings. I was the one that had wanted to discuss this, though, right? I had been the one that had suggested she leave this morning, without any worries about the consequences. Now, of course, things didn't seem that easy anymore. Derek, sitting still next to me, slowly nodded his head in agreement.

Kit looked at me, waiting to hear what I had to say. I had the feeling that my answer would seal the deal – if I decided to keep her, they'd probably let me keep her without any complains (excluding Tori, of course.) I was suddenly flooded with memories of me and Aunt Lauren. There were days when she had seemed like my best friend, my _only_ friend sometimes, and she'd effectively slid into my life to take care of me after my mother died. I could picture the moments where she'd taken me to lunch, where she'd told me bedtime stories before I'd fallen asleep at her house, to the times when we'd gone on short day-trips, sometimes going to the zoo or the mall or the park. And then there were memories of her leaning over my bed, telling me that I was schizophrenic, knowing all along that that diagnosis wasn't the least bit true. Knowing that I would be sent to the Lyle House, a home for wayward supernaturals, not confused teens. Knowing that I was just another experiment in a study.

"I… I t-think she n-n-needs to g-go." I stated. Derek's arm lightly draped over my shoulders, and he squeezed me to his chest for a short moment before letting me go.

Kit nodded. "It's final then. I'll have to talk to Lauren. Do you want to be there, Chloe?" Kit asked. I bit down on my lip. I knew I should've been, because she was my aunt, and it was pretty much my fault that she was being asked to leave, anyway. I was the one who had planted the thought into Kit's mind. I was the one who'd insisted that my crazy idea be put into action. At least some good was coming out of this, right? I wouldn't have someone breathing down my neck – something that I discovered that I greatly appreciated when we'd been on the run, still searching for Kit. I loved her, but she didn't fit into my life the way she used to.

I was right. She had changed. I had changed. The old Aunt Lauren and the old Chloe could hang out together, spending hours on pointless things. The new Aunt Lauren was overly protective and incredibly cold. The new Chloe couldn't stand to be oppressed, even by someone she loved and once trusted unconditionally. I'd come to terms with the fact that my old life – my dreams of movies and the stupid worries about boys – was infinitely out of my reach. I could never return to it and pretend to be the person I once was. And Aunt Lauren was a part of my old life. I should've seen it long ago. She didn't fit into my new life. She should've stayed as a memory of my old life. I would've looked at her a lot more fondly if that had happened.

"I don't think I should be there."

Kit nodded. "I suggest that you and Derek steer clear, then. Lauren won't be pleased with what I have to say. Why don't you go to your cabins and wait? We've got a lot of stuff to figure out in the upcoming days, okay?"

Derek stood up fluently, pulling me out of my hunched ball with him. Simon's hands squeezed together for a moment before he stood up and turned to face the front door. Tori gave a huff, probably annoyed by the fact that she'd just got here, and now we were all packing up to leave. Her boots thumped to the floor as she practically catapulted herself out of her chair. Kit was still sitting in his chair as we headed to the door. He cleared his throat, and we all paused to look back at him. It was weird how I thought of him more as a father than I thought of my own dad, sitting at home, probably still offering a reward for any information about me. I still felt bad about him not knowing, sometimes. But it was for the better. It had always been for the better.

"Don't go out in the woods unless you have to. There's something dangerous out there." He raised his eyebrows at us and we all nodded, stepping out of his front door. Tori immediately headed for the comfort of our cabin. Simon was itching to finish his board game, and I was unwilling to leave Derek's side.

What Kit had said seemed to get to him, though. I didn't know if it was just the protective streak that he'd had – whether it be human personality or wolf personality – or if it really did just have to do with the fact that I was now classified as his mate, but Derek was tense. He took deep breaths as we walked, his head slightly tilted as if he'd needed to hear better. I could practically imagine a tall black wolf in his place, ears twitching and twisting to catch the sounds around him. His eyes scanned the road ahead of us, his fingers firmly clamped around mine. Subconsciously, he wove our fingers together, palms pressing against one another as our arms swung slightly.

"I think it's best if Simon and I crash in your living room." Derek said in a low whisper. "If there's someone out there… I want to make sure you'll be okay." He said.

"I'll be fine," I answered back. It was sweet, and I knew part of it was just because he was a werewolf, but it still sort of bothered me a little. I liked the feeling that he would take care of me and protect me, but I didn't want him to become a tyrant.

Derek seemed to be reading my mind. "I don't want to control you, Chloe. I just feel, especially now, with an unsolved murder nearby, that someone be with you. It will be better if all four of us are together. Dad's a full warlock and can take care of himself. Your aunt is probably of no interest to the killer. But you and Tori are supercharged. They'll definitely be interested in you two." He had a point. As much as Tori stood up for herself, I sometimes thought that her bravado was faked, even just a little bit. Despite the fact that she wouldn't want to be babied, she probably wouldn't mind the extra protection.

"Okay," I said, giving in. It actually did sound smart to have him nearby. Derek called out to Simon to let him know about our plan. Once Tori caught wind of it, she snorted, but I think she was secretly relieved. Derek and Simon went to their cabin to get their things – a change of clothes, blankets and pillows and quilts. Derek would just barely fit on the couch in the living room, and Simon could definitely sleep slouched in one of the chairs with his feet propped up, but it probably wasn't too comfortable. I didn't exactly think it would be the smartest to shove a werewolf into my bed with me, either. I figured that they would end up making pallets on the floor.

Tori went to her room, closing the door behind her. I stayed in the kitchen, idly straightening up an already clean room. When you're practically bored out of your mind, you find yourself doing the stupidest, most inane things. Like cleaning excessively, for instance. That was definitely something that I was doing more and more often. If anything, I would make a good housewife when it came to mopping the floors and wiping down the counters. I bit my lip at that thought. Was I going to end up with Derek for the rest of my life? I wasn't complaining. I actually really liked that idea. But I was only fifteen. I shouldn't be even thinking about getting married for another ten years.

Simon didn't bother to knock on the door. He was carrying a wad of quilts and pillows with him. I had no idea how he even opened up the door. He dumped his load onto the couch, and then turned back towards the dirt path, presumably for the second trip. Derek stumbled in right after him, depositing more quilts and pillows onto the couch. Simon came back with another round of pillows, his diabetes kit, and his art kit. Derek came back in a second time, holding a wad of what looked to be clothes. I gave him a smile as he dropped the clothes into the armchair closest to the door.

I offered to help, but they both turned me down. Derek started throwing quilts and blankets onto the couch, tucking in the edges around the cushions as he made himself a bed. He piled pillows onto the arms of the couch as Simon pulled the small coffee table closer to the armchair. He covered the top of it with pillows and blankets, creating a makeshift bed.

"Derek," I said when he was all done, "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," He said, continuing to rearrange his pillows to perfection. He didn't say anything. He didn't even turn around to face me.

I cleared my throat. "Privately?" I felt the blush burn on my cheeks and neck. I couldn't believe I was getting all shy at just asking if I could talk to him. Of course, the only place to talk was outside, and when I started to head that way, Derek caught my arm and shook his head at me. I remembered that Kit had said to try and stay indoors, and Derek wasn't about to turn down the suggestion, not when he was so worried about me. The only other place was the bathroom, which I was starting to get annoyed off (really, I'd spent a lot of awkward moments in bathrooms with Derek, and none of them needed to be repeated) or my bedroom. My bedroom was the safest bet, so I shrugged and headed that way. Derek hesitated in the door frame, like he thought that maybe this was all a practical joke, and that he was going to get some sort of extreme electrical shock if he walked any farther.

I collapsed onto my bed, crossing my legs as I leaned against the old, carved wooden headboard. Derek stood awkwardly in my bedroom, looking like he didn't know where to go. I'd never seen him so flustered before. I was wondering what had done that to him. I was pretty sure that he'd been in my room at the Lyle House, though I couldn't really remember, and I was sure that he'd been in my room at some point when we'd been staying at the safe house Andrew had led us to. I didn't know what was so new about this now.

"You can close the door, you now." I said quietly, hoping that I didn't sound too awkward. Derek slowly closed the door behind him. I patted the bed in front of me, and he carefully sat down.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Did I do the right thing?" I asked in a rush. It sort of just fell out of my mouth, and I kind of wished that I hadn't said anything. Sure, I wanted to know if what I did was the right decision – is sending your aunt away ever the right decision? – but it was also just a question in general, from the time of believing that he and Simon could help me, to inviting Rae to come with us, to following my Aunt Lauren here. To practicing my powers even though I knew they were potentially dangerous, to the moment where I'd released a demi-demon (who still hadn't made up for bowing out on half of her deal). I just wanted to know that, despite not knowing what the heck I was doing, I was doing _something_ right.

"Yeah, Chloe," He said. He rubbed his hands together, like he was nervous. I leaned forward a little bit, wishing that I had more of a body figure like Tori did. I didn't understand what Derek saw in me, but I was glad that he'd picked up something. "You did the right thing for you."

I leaned forward a little more, scooting closer to him. Derek pushed off his sneakers, rubbing the heel of his socked foot back and forth across the carpet. For a moment, I thought he was going to reach out and try to shock me. I sat there in silence, right next to him but not touching. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

When I opened my eyes again, Derek's face was right there, so close to mine that it should've scared me, but I didn't even jump. That was definitely strange. I was well-known in our little group for being the skittish one. "Am I different than I used to be?" I asked. That was really what was bothering me.

"You're no different than the Chloe I know. Sure, parts of you are different, but you're still the same. You're still whole. You're still stubborn and sarcastic and a complete movie-buff. You still don't understand why I do some of the things I do, and you're still squirreling around, looking for answers to questions that you shouldn't have asked. You're exactly the same as the person." He said.

He was so close that it wouldn't take much for our lips to meet. I lifted my chin a little bit, sort of defiant, but also asking, in a way. Derek's smile was slightly crooked as he leaned forward to meet me. Our lips brushed, and shocks literally reverberated through me. I thought it had something to do with the fact that he'd rubbed his socks on the carpet, albeit nervously, but I liked to think that it was just because we were perfect for each other, that our souls were calling out to one another. Finally, there were the fireworks that I'd heard of. I was pretty sure that other people didn't have that kind of shock in mind, but it worked well enough for me.

He tasted like the sweet apple he'd eaten at Kit's house. His hands threaded through my hair, one hand on the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine. I leaned against him a little more, my fingers reaching up to tangled in the front of his thin T-shirt. I could feel the muscle of his chest, and a low growl emanated out of him as I pulled him closer by the front of his shirt. Derek was always the one with extreme self-discipline and restraint. I had a feeling that it had to do with the accident, with the boy whom Derek had hurt. Never in my life had I ever thought that I would see Derek lose control, even a little bit. He leaned towards me, his hands tightening around my waist, so much that it should've hurt. He deepened the kiss, a low rumble continually leaking out of his chest. I'd never heard anything like that before – only when he'd been angry or annoyed of feeling threatened. I doubted he was feeling any of that right now.

Unfortunately, I had to breathe. I pulled back just a little bit, and his forehead immediately went to rest against mine. He gave me a small smile. "I don't know if it has anything to do with my wolf seeing you as its mate, but I always feel okay when I'm with you." He said. It was sappy, and I couldn't help but love it. Here I was, sitting there and thinking about all those dopey girls who'd bought into lines like that. Romantic comedies. Ugh. And yet, here I was, acting like one of them.

Derek had his back to the window, meaning that I could see out of it quite clearly. Aunt Lauren's bedroom light snapped on, and through her drawn curtains, I could see her angrily fumbling for her large duffel bag, stuffing her clothes and other items into it. That had to be a good sign. That meant that she was packing up to leave.

"What are you looking at?" Derek asked, glancing over his shoulder. He tensed a little bit as we watched my aunt pack her bags. She looked so angry, that I could imagine her running over her, waving yet another weapon in the face of my boyfriend.

_Liz_. "I could call Liz," I said quietly, "She could tell us what was happening."

"Not your best idea, Chloe," Derek said. "Not with that dead body out in the woods." His words were lightly whispered, but I could tell that it still bothered him. He was still worried about it. I saw a flash over his eyes, like he was hiding something from me.

I didn't really think much about the body, other than to notice that I hadn't seen its ghost. I'd seen Liam's ghost right after he died, and he'd only hung around to talk for a little while. He'd been sucked away mid-sentence. I had a feeling that Liam hadn't had an option. He'd seemed pretty determined to "impart wisdom" and werewolf youth. I couldn't imagine why he would just leave so quickly. I would've expected something snarky from him. Maybe the same thing had happened to the girl's ghost. It had just gone away, and that's why I hadn't been able to see it. And I guess that's when it occurred to me – I could try to call her ghost. That would mean that I would have to see her face. At least, that would make it easier for me.

"I can call her, Derek. She can tell me what happened before she… died."

"I thought about that," He said. I opened my mouth to say something, and he cut me off. "But I figured that wasn't the best thing to ask from you. In fact, it would be rude for me to ask that of you."

"I can do it."

"I didn't say you couldn't. I just don't think it would be the best idea for you. You're stronger than you should be. I don't want you to try to do something like that and end up bringing her back. We don't know what all is out there in the woods. You could raise a whole dead squirrel army without even realizing it." I wanted to laugh at the idea of a bunch of dead squirrels making their way to me, but it was scary and a little too close to being somewhat true. It would've been really, really creepy and twisted. "Besides, if someone knows that you're a necromancer and that you can try to contact her ghost, they'll be out for you. If they think you know something, you'll be in danger."

"I can do it." I repeated. I tried to soften him up with a gentle peck on his lips, my arms going around his neck. I moved a little closer, if that was even possible.

Derek gave a soft growl, like he was chastising himself. He leaned in to plant a kiss under my chin. I had no idea that you could be kissed right there and it be so full of… love. I smiled as Derek leaned down to kiss me again.

I was still sort of scared about whom this new Chloe was, but I think I kind of liked her. I guess I had to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't the same me I'd been. I was stronger. I was more careful, more thoughtful, and it definitely seemed like Tori was rubbing off on me a little. I had the feeling, though, that once I accepted her, I'd be a lot happier with my werewolf by my side.

But of course, I couldn't have a life like that. It couldn't be easy for me. I couldn't just find someone that I loved and live happily ever after. Instead, I had to deal with the murder in the woods, which I was determined to help solve, no matter what Derek said. It was my duty as a necromancer to use my otherwise useless power. And then after that, we were going to need to find the other experiments. They weren't safe, just as me and Tori weren't safe. We needed to band together and turn against the Cabals. Otherwise, we would be crushed.

But for now, I could stand to waste a few minutes of my time kissing the boy I loved.

**How did you like that chapter? (:**

**Please leave me a review; comments/criticisms wanted!**

**And please, please go read my other Darkest Powers story – The Hidden Truth. I promise it has a plot and love and all that goodness! Of course, it's one leading right after the Reckoning, and it has no relation to this story, but I promise to give it my best shot! Please go read and review that one, too!**

**Thank you all for reading. Peace. (:**


	14. Chapter 14

**It feels like forever since I've updated this story (and it's only been like, six days. Ha.) Anyway. I just wanted to let all of you readers know that, even if I don't comment on your review, I appreciate you reading and reviewing, so please continue to do so!**

**Nerd95 – I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter! I was really looking forward to it, too. Chloe and Derek are just so perfect for each other! Ha (:**

**Darkest Powers series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

I woke up in a tangle of arms and legs. I lay there for a moment, assessing where I was. Derek and I had stayed up late, talking about anything and everything. For once, it was like we'd just talked about things that had been important at the time. We'd talked about insipid things, like our favorite colors, favorite foods, favorite bands, favorite movies…. And I guess we'd just fallen asleep, lying on my bed and staring up at the dark ceiling.

Derek was still fast asleep next to me. He was on his back, one arm thrown over my side. One of my legs was slightly under his. My arm was draped across his chest, my head using his shoulder as a pillow. The edge of his shirt had pulled up a little bit as he slept, revealing the smooth skin of his stomach. I lay there, completely frozen. If Simon and Tori were already up, they would both know that Derek had spent the night in my room. We hadn't done anything, but that wasn't the point.

Slowly, I extracted myself from his grip. His fingers grazed my side as I scooted away, my hand a light pressure on his chest. I was still wearing my jeans and my T-shirt from the day before. I headed towards my closet and yanked on a clean pair of jeans, followed by a creased shirt that had been folded up for a long time. I tried to smooth out the creases as I stepped from the dark closet. Standing at the end of the bed, I watched him sleep. Derek was always so serious. He never relaxed. Which was why it was weird to see him, his eyes closed and his mouth just in a general frown, not one that he held on purpose. His hair was messed up, in need of a good combing and a trim. I bit my lip and crossed my arms, watching him.

I decided to just let him sleep. I stepped out into the living room, closing the door quietly behind me. I looked up towards the kitchen and let out a sigh. Neither Tori nor Simon were in there, so I figured that neither of them knew that Derek had slept in my room. I glanced towards the chair, where Simon was supposed to be sleeping. He wasn't there. He didn't even look like he'd slept there. And that's because he was sitting on the couch, his clasped hands to his mouth as he looked at me.

I figured that out of all of them, Simon would be the one who wouldn't be bothered by the fact that Derek had just fallen asleep in my bed. He would've known that we hadn't done anything besides sharing kisses. At least, that's what I thought. But the glare he was giving me didn't match that notion. Simon looked _mad_. I stood there, my cheeks reddening. Neither of us said a word.

Finally, I tried to speak. "S-Simon," I said, "Y-y-you're up." I said, clearing my throat.

Simon sat there for a moment longer, and then stood up and looked at me like I'd just told him that I'd betrayed him. He shook his head and said, "Yeah. I'm up." He looked pointedly at the couch, which he'd obviously slept on when Derek never came back. He was already wearing fresh clothes, and his hair looked wet, like he'd already taken a shower this morning.

I tried to give him a smile. "W-well, I'll j-j-just go make b-br-breakfast." I turned towards the kitchen, trying to pretend like nothing was happening. But who was I kidding? Even though we _hadn't_ done anything, my cheeks were still red and I couldn't control the stutter. I even tried to think it through like Liz and so many others kept trying to tell me.

"God, Chloe." Simon said the words like they just burst out of him. "What were you thinking? I mean, I realize that his wolf sees you as a mate and all, but seriously…." He couldn't seem to be able to finish the sentence. That was okay, because I wouldn't be able to finish it either.

"I didn't _do_ anything, Simon." I said. The embarrassment had washed away, and now I was mad at Simon for even thinking that I would do that. I'd hung out with Simon for a long time before I let him kiss me, and when he'd figured that there was someone else (which there was, I just didn't know it at the time) he stopped. He knew that I would never lead someone on like that, and I definitely wasn't the type of girl to just give away my heart. With my annoyed anger, the stutter was gone. "We _talked_. I can't believe you assumed I did otherwise." I glared at him, hoping that he realized how much he'd hurt my feelings.

Simon looked shocked, like he hadn't expected me to say anything like that to him. Usually I wouldn't, but I'd decided last night to accept who I was now, and to let go of who I used to be. There was going to be no more holding back what I was thinking to save others. I'd tried that, and it had failed. It was safer to just be flat out honest, especially when you were in this particular situation. "I… Chloe," He said, still a little shocked. Stunned, really.

"Don't even say anything Simon. I don't want to talk to you right now," I said stiffly, walking right past him. He reached out to catch my arm. I continued on past him, heading straight for the kitchen. I opened up the small refrigerator and dug through it. Kit had gone to the grocery store and bought a bunch of frozen dinners. He'd also bought frozen breakfasts – breakfast tacos, sandwiches, and pancakes. I pulled out some of the pancakes and waffles and took four plates from the cabinet.

Simon leaned onto the counter across from me as I pulled waffles and pancakes from the boxes. Tori hated waffles, Derek loved them. I was more of a pancake girl myself, though, along with Simon. I threw out a small, rounded frozen pancake onto Simon's plate and shoved it into the microwave. He just waited there, as if I was going to crack soon and look up at him. Or even start talking to him.

I pulled out a sleeve of Derek's waffles and tossed three onto the plate. I continued down the line, allotting waffles and pancakes. Simon's one pancake beeped in the microwave and I yanked it out, the plate burning my fingertips as I tossed it onto the counter. Simon looked at the steaming pancake for a minute and then came around to my side. He reached out to touch my arm, the one with my burnt fingertips. I yanked away from him and pushed my plate into the microwave.

"Chloe," Simon said as I punched in the numbers, still fuming with him. I couldn't believe that he'd think that of me! I'd never, not once, been some hopeless romantic girl that wore her heart on her sleeve. I raised the _dead_, for God's sake! I stepped back to the freezer to put all the boxes back when Simon grabbed a hold of my wrist, pulling me to face him. "Chloe! Jeez, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean it like that. What else do you want me to think when you say you need to speak to Derek _privately_ and he doesn't ever come out of your room?"

"Something other than that, Simon," I said back with a short glare. I tried to pull my wrist away from him, but he held on tight.

"Listen," He said. I stopped trying to pull away from him and waited for him to say something. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that, I just couldn't believe that… that you and Derek could be like this!" I looked up into his eyes, daring him to say more. He swallowed hard before continuing. "Derek's never been interested in girls before. Never. I was the one that always got the talks when it came to girlfriends, because we didn't know when we'd had to leave again. And then we get sent to the Lyle House, where the girl prospects aren't that great, no offense to Tori or anything." He said the last little bit sarcastically, and gave me a smile. I fought the urge to smile back.

"And then you came along, Chloe." He said, raising his eyebrows at me. "And Derek suddenly cared. I don't know what it was, but he was instantly interested in knowing about you, if you were like us. He _worked_ to figure out what you could be. He researched necromancers before telling you about them. And then he was always wondering if you were safe, if you were okay, where you were and if you were coming. I just wrote it off as his wolf, being protective about his pack. But then when we went out with our ice cream date, and I realized you cared about someone else. And it suddenly clicked for me. You and Derek were sitting there, pining over each other the whole time without even knowing." He shook his head, his blonde hair loose instead of gelled into spikes.

His grip loosened on me a little bit, and he took a step back, running his hand through his hair. He gave a short, humorless laugh. "I've had girls taken from me before, Chloe, but never by my brother."

I cleared my throat, "I thought you were over that." I said, pulling away from him.

"I was. I am." He looked towards my bedroom door, trying to keep his voice low so Derek wouldn't hear him. "The point is, I just didn't think it would be so weird to see you and Derek together. I mean, I was expecting it, but I didn't think that you were going to be spending the night with him, okay?"

I looked at him for a long time before saying, "I'm sorry, Simon. But he's my boyfriend, and his wolf sees me as his mate. Clearly, we're together for the long run." The microwave beeped, and I thought about making a move to get to it, but decided against it because Simon looked like he had more to say.

"I know that. And I'm okay with it, really, it's just weird, that's all. Derek knew about his werewolf from an early age, and he was always worried about it after being with his brothers. Once they were gone and he came to live with me and dad, he was even more worried about it because he was out in public instead of locked up in a lab. He was actually starting to get over it when I got into that fight, and after that, he thought that the wolf was just a monster. It's a part of him, just like me being a warlock is part of me, and you raising the dead is a part of you. But he doesn't want anything to do with it. And then he actually transformed with you. He cares about you more than he's worried about the wolf, and that's the most important thing. Derek's never been more human than when he's with you, Chloe." Simon cleared his throat. "You're what he needs, and he's what you need." He looked at me pointedly.

"And I'm really, really sorry about assuming anything." He said. "Really, really sorry."

"It's fine," I said. "Already forgotten," I added, moving away from him and opening the microwave for my plate of pancakes. Tori opened her bedroom door and poked her head out of her room tiredly. She glared at me and Simon standing there, and I sighed and put her plate in the microwave. I paused as I looked back at him. "And thanks, Simon, I think."

He smiled. "You're welcome," He laughed and reached for his plate, holding it up in the air as he dug around for the syrup. "And thanks for breakfast."

Tori walked in and grabbed my plate off the counter. I gave her a short glare, but it was aimed at her back as she slid into her seat at the table. She waited impatiently for Simon to hand her the syrup before dousing her pancakes. In just a few moments, she'd pulled on clean clothes and brushed out her hair. She sat at the table, cutting her pancakes into pieces as she looked between me and Simon. Finally, she said, just as the microwave dinged, "So, I heard Derek spent the night in your room."

I let out a groan, and Simon cleared his throat and told Tori what had happened, that we'd just fallen asleep after talking. She rolled her eyes as Simon explained my side of the story for me. I put my plate on the counter and put Derek's waffles into the microwave. Tori was already completely uninterested in what had happened with the little argument between me and Simon. I bit my lip just thinking about it.

The microwave dinged again, and I set out Derek's waffles. I dug through our drawer for forks for the two of us. I was just about to walk around the counter to wake Derek up when my bedroom door opened. We all paused what we were doing and looked towards the door. Derek stepped out, wearing his wrinkled clothes and patting down his messed up hair. He gave a short yawn, gazed around the room for a second, and walked tiredly towards the counter, and me.

I thought he was just going to grab his breakfast, so I pushed his plate and his fork over towards him. He stepped in front of me, and instead of reaching for his plate, he reached out and took hold of my chin, raising my face to his. He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, gently and quickly, pulling away and grabbing his breakfast. "Thanks," He said in a low voice, heading towards the table. I shakily picked up my plate and looked over at Tori and Simon. Tori's eyes were the size of saucers, about to pop out and roll over the table. Simon had a chunk of food in his cheek, his mouth half open. His fork was halfway in between him and the table.

Derek slid into his seat and reached for the syrup. I took a deep breath and went to sit next to him. It was nice in a weird way. I liked that we had grown stronger together. We _were_ going to be together, I could see it. It warmed my heart to know that he wasn't afraid to be close to me in public. Simon was right. He was what I needed, and I was just what he needed.

# # #

This had to be the definition of awkward. It was time to see my aunt off. Kit was going to drive her to the airport. She'd tapped into her own funds and bought a ticket under a fake name to fly her to California. It was going to be her vacation, since she'd taken a leave of absence at her work before we'd left, and she was just going to pretend that she'd been in California for the past month or so. I just hoped that she'd stick to the plan.

Of course, she hadn't been the one to tell me all of it. Kit had. Kit was also the one who suggested that I say goodbye to her before they took off. Tori and Simon were practicing their magic. Simon had once said that witch magic was different than warlock magic, but I didn't really know what the difference was. I just watched Simon try so hard. The experiment had worked on him. Coming from a failure, I considered him lucky. He didn't have to worry about being on the kill list like Tori and I did. But he probably wished it had failed on him. I doubted he liked being the weakest link… in the strength of our powers. I knew he hated to see Tori do spells without incantations, without practice, and I figured he wished he could do that.

I sat on the step outside of my cabin door. Derek sat next to me, our knees pressed together. Our hands were intertwined, our fingers linked together. I leaned against him, my head on his shoulder. Just the feeling of him there was enough to make me feel better. I liked to have someone that I could trust so completely sitting right next to me, and it helped to know that theoretically he would never leave me behind.

Kit had been cleaning out the van for a while. He'd given his son and his daughter a look, and I could see a mask of sadness over his face. He quickly tried to hide it, but it was clear to me. Maybe it was just because I knew it. I didn't know if Derek saw it. I didn't even know if Derek _knew_, but it really wouldn't surprise me if he had the grip on it. Very little seemed to get past him.

I wondered if he saw the look that his father gave us, sitting together on the step. It was a look that was halfway happy, halfway worried. I think it was because he was glad to see Derek with someone, but Derek was with _me_, a necromancer who had a target on his head. And we were so young. Kit had pointed that out once, how young we were. I tried to give him a light smile, but I don't think he caught it. He just continued to scoop on fast food trash from the seats and the door pockets.

Aunt Lauren's door opened, and just like this morning when Derek had stepped out of my room, we all stopped what we were doing to look at her. Aunt Lauren didn't look happy. I wouldn't have expected her to be, but part of me thought that she should've been at least a little bit relieved. She no longer had to run. Sure, she might have to worry about what they would do to her later on, but she was free from me. She didn't have to stand behind me to make sure that no one was out to kill me, and she didn't have to stress herself out over the fact that I was in what looked to be a life-long relationship with a werewolf.

I stood up, but Derek wasn't going to let go of my hand. He stood up fluently with me, and Aunt Lauren's eyes narrowed on us. I stepped closer to her, and once I was in arm's length of her, Derek dropped my hand.

"Bye, Aunt Lauren," I said quietly, in a low whisper.

"Bye, Chloe." She put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a tight hug. I hadn't expected it because I thought she would've been madder at me. I figured that she'd have to know that I was the one that suggested she leave. "You be good now, okay? You know where to find me." She let go of me, and I had the feeling that it was very anti-climactic.

I sighed as Kit helped her get her stuff into the car. She said her goodbyes to us, and then Kit got in the car and they started down the dirt road. I turned to face Derek the moment the car was out of sight. "Okay," I said, "I want to try and contact the girl's spirit."

# # #

"Chloe, this is a really bad idea." Derek said behind me. We were standing in the woods, where the girl had died. Her body wasn't here anymore, and we didn't know where they'd taken her. I wished I could've gotten a glance at her face, because that would've helped me call her forward. Simon and Tori were standing with us, intent on having come. I didn't have the hard to tell them that Tori's fireballs wouldn't do anything to someone who was already dead.

"We need to find out what happened to her," I said, "And then I think we need to get out of here. Aunt Lauren knows where we are now, and I don't know how long we can stay here. But we can't do anything until we find out what happened to her." I looked at him pointedly, and he gave a little huff, like he was annoyed.

Tori leaned against a tree next to me. "You better hurry up and do this then, because I have a bad feeling about this." I looked over at her with a short glare, and she glared back.

I sighed and closed my eyes, imagining a general girl's shape. I didn't know what her face looked like, or even what color her hair was. I had no idea how tall she was or what kind of powers she'd had, if she'd had any. I wondered if Liz could help me find her. As I focused, I switched between the unnamed girl and Liz, hoping that one of them would show up.

Derek's hand was wrapped around my own. Simon stood close enough that I could absolutely feel his presence, like the little hairs on his arms were standing up just being close to me. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, giving a little more power than I'd had before. I was worried about what was going to happen. I didn't know what kind of creatures lived around here, or if I would raise any dead creatures.

"Chloe, don't try too hard," Derek said.

I gave a sigh and opened my eyes. "I don't see her. I don't even see Liz," I shook my head, about to close my eyes and try again. That's when a scream echoed from close by. Derek's hand tightened on my own, letting me know that he'd heard it, too. That meant that it wasn't a ghostly scream that I'd heard. It was something real. Something human and alive.

Simon glanced over his shoulder and then looked at me, his eyes wide. Tori looked like she'd just jumped out of her skin, electric blue on her fingertips. I'd never thought that something could scare Tori so badly that she would instinctively create a sort of energy around her. Derek gave a gentle tug on my arm, and we took off, crashing through the woods.

We weren't far from the dirt path. We weren't even far from my cabin, which had to bother Derek more than I realized. We continued on down to the first cabin, the screams higher as we drew closer. Ezekiel had thrown open the door, hustling Maggie out of the cabin. A thin woman rushed out after them, screaming, with tears streaming down her face.

We stopped close by, Derek's hand tightening on my own. There was a body in the house, and it was slowly crawling towards us, scraping its still-fleshy body across the boards of the cabin and down the step. It moved across the dirt faster than any of the other bodies I'd raised, his mouth clacking and eyes rolling under half-closed lids. My stomach dropped. The last time I'd raised someone was when I'd raised Mrs. Enright, Tori's mom, and commanded her to shoot Dr. Davidoff. She'd been the only person that I'd raised that had recently died, and her body was still very alive with its soul returned to it. The other corpses had been skeletal, slow in progression and bony. This one was like Mrs. Enright, though, completely in control of its body, moving fluidly.

The girl's jaw moved up and down, her vocal cords trying to make words. I could almost hear them; if I focused hard enough, I thought I might be able to figure them out. The woman who had run out of the cabin shook, holding onto Ezekiel. Maggie was gripping the woman's arm tightly, holding her in an awkward hug as the girl's body crawled close to me. Derek tried to pull me away, but I refused to move. The girl would just continue to try to follow us, and I wanted answers from her. I figured that maybe I could help her speak. It was worth a shot, because we needed our questions answered. I held tight to my spot, and Derek moved to stand behind me. His hands rested on my hips, holding my back tight against his chest.

The girl's body got closer to me, the woman wailing into a tissue the entire time. Ezekiel stood transfixed, and Maggie looked like she was going to get sick. A van rolled closer, and I saw Kit as he hit the break and threw the car into park, jumping out of the car door. The girl reached my feet, her hand reaching up. Her fingers brushed over my shoelaces, and Tori gave a slight whimper. She'd only seen this once, the one time with the skeletal homeless man in the abandoned warehouse, and she'd screamed at the top of her lungs. The girl's hand continued to move up, tugging on my pant leg as she pulled her upper body up by her grasp on me.

I tried to hold my breath so I wouldn't freak out. It was weird, but I was sort of used to being touched by the dead, although the majority, if not all, of my experiences had been bad. I remembered the guard that I'd raised, taken over by a demon that had contorted the body and licked up my blood. It made me shiver as the girl got to her knees. Her hands, reaching higher, brushed over mine as she reached for the hem of my shirt. Although she was still flesh, her skin was cold to the touch. I almost wished that she'd just been a skeleton, because that might've been a little less creepy.

Her hand rested right on Derek's, and he gave a violent shiver. Through everything, Derek had never touched one of the bodies that I'd raised. The girl looked disgusted at feeling Derek's skin instead of mine, and a low hiss sounded from her frowning mouth. She managed to get to her feet, one hand grasping my T-shirt, the other reaching up slowly to touch my face. Derek's hands tightened on my hips.

Just before the girl's hand touched my cheek, I whispered, "Stop." She did, her eyes rolling under her lids. I didn't want to see them, because that would make this all the scarier. I took a deep breath, trying not to breathe in her scent of death. "What happened to you?"

Her jaw worked to speak. She thrummed, like she couldn't figure out how to work her vocal cords. She tried again, her hand still wrapped around my T-shirt. Simon stood off to the side, looking surprised and sort of jealous. Tori looked like she was about to throw up, as did the woman who'd come running out of the cabin. Maggie had tears running down her cheeks. Kit stood against the van, looking a little grossed out and completely entranced. Ezekiel looked like he'd just seen something incredibly interesting.

"Who did this to you?" I asked again. The girl's face frowned as she tried to speak. But she couldn't. I sighed, and the girl's body twitched, her head twisting and turning as if she were trying to find me and I'd moved. "I'm sorry," I whispered, "I just wanted to talk to you. Let me try again, please? I want to figure out what happened to you. I'm sorry that I returned you to your body. I just wanted to talk to your ghost. Please let me try again." I pushed the words out, hoping that she could understand me.

After a long moment, the girl's head gave a slow nod, her jaw clicking. I closed my eyes and imagined myself yanking her soul out of the body, but holding her soul closer to me and not releasing it into the air. The body's hold on my shirt loosened, and her body crashed to my feet. I opened my eyes and saw her ghost standing there.

She really was pretty. Shoulder-length chestnut brown hair, watery eyes, and a sad smile. She was wearing her jeans and her T-shirt, but no shoes. She nervously brushed her hair away from her face. "Hi," I said, directing my voice to her. "I'm sorry that I brought you back like that."

The girl's ghost jumped, like even after I called her back, she hadn't thought that I would try to talk to her after removing her soul from her body. "Hi. You can see me?"

"I'm a necromancer," I told her, "It's kind of my power."

She nodded, like that made total sense to her. It strengthened my initial feeling that she was a supernatural. "I'm Chelsea," She said. "He did this to –" She was in mid-sentence, and her body just fizzled out. I reached out, as if I was going to grasp her hand. Derek's hands tightened on me, and it was probably a good thing, because otherwise I probably would've tripped over her body lying at my feet.

"Chloe?" Kit asked, stepping forward. The woman wailed at the sight of Chelsea's body.

"She's gone!" I called out. "She just fizzled out! Just like Liam!"

Derek turned me around and pulled me into his chest at the sound of the werewolf he had accidentally killed. I'd been so close to finding out who had done it to Chelsea. But now she was gone, and I had no idea if I was going to be able to call her back.

**This was a long chapter! The longest yet! So, as you probably guessed, talking to Chelsea won't be as easy as Chloe hoped it would be. Aunt Lauren is officially gone, and Derek's not afraid to make his relationship with Chloe public. Yay!**

**Anyway, partly filler, partly important, but I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading (you really are awesome!) Please leave me a review to let me know what you think (and because I love them so much!)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Ahh! You guys make me smile (: I'm glad you readers are enjoying this so much (I know I enjoy writing it, so….) Anyway, as is customary, I'm going to throw out some replies to reviews that asked questions or made me laugh. (:**

**Raella – Cliffhangers are the best, aren't they? (;**

**MehTheFreakazoid – That used to happen to me all the time! I'm glad you're enjoying this, too! (: Thanks for reading (even though it was so late that your parents made you go to bed. Haha)**

**Taste The Rainbow- Or Else – Well I'm glad you tuned in at all! (: Thanks for reading**

**Linda Chicana – I don't know, but I guess it turned out to be a two-for-one special for you. I literally died laughing at thinking of Derek as a "butt nugget," so thanks. (:**

**Darkest Powers belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

Derek's grip was tight on me as he held me to his chest. All of us had been ushered into the house where Chelsea's body had been before I'd accidentally raised her. Derek had offered to carry her cold body back into the house, but I could tell that it freaked him out. He had practically had a heart attack when Chelsea's fingers had run over his hand as she reached for me. But he'd done it. He'd bent down and scooped her limp body up in his arms, trying to hide the freaked out expression that crossed his face. Derek never freaked out about anything, unless it had to do with someone's safety, and when it came to that he was angrier. But this time around, he was clearly panicked. I touched his elbow and forced myself to hold her cold, limp hand in mine as we stepped through the doorway. I kept expecting her fingers to tighten around mine at some point, but they remained still.

Now, Chelsea was lying in a crudely made wooden coffin in the other room. It was just barely big enough to hold her, and she hadn't exactly been a big girl. She was more sprite-sized, being an inch or so taller than me and just as thin. There had even been a coffin cover that was lying next to the empty wooden bed. They hadn't nailed it shut yet. I could practically imagine Chelsea's body rising out of the coffin and crawling over the edge, knocking it over and loosening some of the nails hastily hammered into wooden boards. It made my stomach hurt just thinking about it. I couldn't imagine what it had been like to actually see it.

"A necromancer," The woman repeated. She was holding onto a handkerchief, which was embroidered with a large A and stained with what looked to be like watery mascara. Her name was Abigail, and she was somehow related to Ezekiel and Maggie. Chelsea had been her daughter.

Derek had gone to the bathroom after he'd laid Chelsea down in her coffin. I think he wanted to wash off the feeling that seemed to run over your skin whenever you were close to someone dead. It was an itchy, crawly sort of feeling that made your stomach turn and your eyes water. I wish I could say that it didn't affect me anymore, especially not when it had been Chelsea, a girl who had died in her prime and hadn't been cruel to me at all. In fact, she'd been confused when she saw me and for the short moment we'd spoken. I was dying to help her, but it didn't mean that I didn't want to use a gallon of hand sanitizer on my palms.

Now, Derek had one arm around my shoulders, squeezing me to his chest as we sat on the couch. Abigail knew that I was a necromancer, but I doubted that she knew anything about Derek being a werewolf. Ezekiel and Maggie had promised that they wouldn't be telling anybody about our superpowers, and I hoped that they stayed true to that. But now I wondered what Abigail knew, and what she could do. Clearly, she had something to hide, if she was living out here on a backwoods Texas ranch.

I raised my gaze to Kit, who didn't look particularly happy at the fact that Abigail now knew what I could do. I had a feeling that Abigail could care less about that. She was probably thinking more about the fact that her daughter's spirit had been shoved back into her body, forcing her to become an animated corpse. A zombie. I wished that I could say something to her, to help her feel better about the whole thing. But what could I, the necromancer that had raised her daughter, do?

Abigail ran the handkerchief under her eyes, sniffling as she did. "What did she say?" Her voice was high-pitched, sad, broken, and questioning. I bit down on my lip hard enough to make it bleed. Derek ran his hand up and down my arm, like he was trying to warm me up. It was definitely the last thing that I would've expected she say. I was expecting her to be upset, to yell at me, to scream and shout about how terrible it was of me to shove a young soul back into the body she'd left only days earlier. But instead, Abigail sounded hopeful, like I'd just opened up a route for communicating. I guess I sort of had. But after I left, how would Abigail deal with the loss of Chelsea? Now she would know that her ghost was accessible, if only she had the help of a necromancer. She'd never be at peace again, and for that, I felt guilty.

"She…." I paused, wondering if I should tell them about the fact that she'd just been sucked away from me, that I hadn't had the chance to get the answers I'd wanted. "She just told me her name." I decided that honesty would be the safer bet, so I added, "And she was going to tell me who did this to her. But she was pulled away before she could tell me. That… well, it doesn't happen often."

"What does it mean?" Abigail asked, clutching her heart.

"I don't know," I said back, "It's only happened once before."

Abigail sniffled again, hugging herself. Derek's grip got a little tighter on my arm. It wasn't enough to actually hurt, but I was worried that his anxiety was shooting through the wolf. I only had to look up at his face to confirm what I was thinking. He was in full protection mode, one hand on me and the other clenched into a fist at his side. His eyes were darting around the room like he'd suddenly becoming claustrophobic.

"Abigail," I said, clearing my throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… well, I didn't mean to do what I did." I watched her carefully. Abigail looked a lot like her daughter. Or, I guess, her daughter looked a lot like her. The same dark hair, almost the same length, though Chelsea's had been dutifully straightened and Abigail's was a wild mess of waves. She dabbed at her eyes and then looked up at me.

"Do you think you can bring her back again? I mean, as a… a ghost," She choked on the last word, and I struggled not to cry. This was exactly what I'd feared – that Abigail would think that she could enlist me to be her psychic telephone or something. "I just… I need to talk to her. I need to say goodbye to her."

"I don't think that would be best, Abigail." Ezekiel cut in for the first time since we'd been sitting here. I was grateful that someone had said something, because I didn't want to be the one to break it to her. I know that I'd decided that no one was going to be able to walk over me anymore, but I didn't have the heart to crush Abigail's hope. I let out a breath, and Derek's hand rubbed over my arm again.

Abigail looked up at Ezekiel. She shook her head. "I just want to say goodbye to her!"

"Abigail, you don't need to do it in a supernatural way," Maggie said softly. "It'll destroy you more than you know." The way she said it, I had a feeling that she knew more about what she was saying than she let on. Abigail wiped at her eyes again and stood up, drifting into the room where Chelsea lay in the wooden coffin. Maggie looked flustered, but she managed to turn and give me the saddest smile I'd ever seen. Then she followed Abigail into the other room.

Ezekiel sat there for a moment longer. Kit was standing at the doorway, after sending Tori and Simon home for the moment. They were told to wait for us there. He'd told Derek to go, too, but he'd refused to go. He'd even growled at his father. It had been low, so I think I was the only one who'd heard it, but still. Derek even seemed a little shaken up about it, but he hadn't said anything. Kit and Derek hadn't even so much as look at each other the entire time we were sitting there. Neither of them had said a word, letting me take front and center stage. It wasn't really a place that I'd wanted to be. I wanted to be a movie director for a reason – they're never on screen.

I waited for someone to say something. I was itching to get out of there and continue on with my investigation – hopefully with a little less movie drama. We needed to find out what was wrong with my communication with the ghosts. Why were they getting sucked away from me? What was happening to them, anyway? And most of all, how was I supposed to solve Chelsea's murder if I couldn't even talk to her? I had to find a way, and I figured that Derek was thinking the same thing. He might be a whiz at the logical stuff – science and math – but he was still a genius when it came to the supernatural. I was hoping that he knew something that I didn't.

Kit cleared his throat, finally, and Ezekiel stood up, removing his cowboy hat. "Well, I'd like to say it was a pleasure, but it wasn't." He said, looking at his hat as if it held the secret to the world. "Chloe, I think Maggie and I would appreciate it if you stayed in your cabin, for now. Abigail is… well, we're worried about her."

I nodded. "I'm sorry, Ezekiel. I really am," I said, standing up to face the graying man. Derek stood with me, his hand holding on tightly to my fingers, slightly behind me. It was comforting to have someone tall and strong right behind my back. Literally. "I want to find out who did this to Chelsea, but I don't think it will be that easy."

"I'm sure it won't," Ezekiel said back, putting his hat back onto his head. He tugged on the brim as he added, "But try doin' your experimentin' away from Abigail, okay?"

"It's a deal," I said, swallowing hard. I stepped away from him, towards Kit who stood by the door. He definitely didn't look happy. I figured that maybe he would be pleased with the fact that I was coming into my necromancer powers quite easily, figuring how to work them… for the most part. There were still a few glitches. I was still relatively _new_ at this, anyway.

Still, that didn't help to erase the anxiety I got after his eyes met mine. He was dead serious, and no, he didn't think that it was great that I was making leaps and bounds with my power. I was in so much trouble.

# # #

It had been such a long time that I'd been in trouble that it sort of felt good. Derek was sitting right next to me, Simon on my other side. Tori was leaning against the counter, arms crossed as she listened to the hash-out that we were all getting.

"And you, Derek, should've known better than to let her start trying to summon ghosts at the very spot where a dead girl was found!" Simon and Tori had already gotten their pieces – short and sweet and to the point. Mine had been more lengthy, a lecture on why it was a bad idea to start summoning ghosts and raising bodies when they had literally just died; especially in front of their family. Then I'd gotten the bit about how dangerous it was, and about how I was supposed to be trying to lie low.

But Derek was the one that was really getting it. Derek was the oldest of us experiments, but I didn't think he should be taking the blame, like he was. Sure, I'd been chewed out for doing it in the first place and talking the others into letting me try. Tori and Simon had been told that they better watch out for the team and do what was right. But he lectured Derek like he had formulated a giant heist of some sort. I had the feeling that this was the fatherly tough love that I'd been missing out on all these years. I was pretty sure that Derek wouldn't have responded well to a laid-back punishment, like Simon did. Derek wanted to have the facts laid down in front of him, to be told exactly what he did wrong. And to make matters worse, he didn't really mind taking most of the blame. So it seemed.

I squeezed his hand, trying to catch a glimpse of his eyes. But his bright green eyes were resting on his father, taking in every word he said. Even I'd zoned out, not to mention Tori, who was checking under her nails, and Simon who was staring at the pack of colors on the coffee table in front of him. I could tell that he was just itching to draw something. Even his fingers twitched, as if they were going into an artist's withdrawal.

That's when I caught her out of the corner of my eye. I was halfway expecting Chelsea, which is why I stood up so quickly. I realized it was Liz as her eyes met mine. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn't Chelsea, since we needed to solve her murder ASAP, and maybe even move on to somewhere else. But Liz was always welcome, and I couldn't help but feel that usual sense of having something important to do when she was around. There was nothing like being a translator. At least my shoddy power was worth something.

Derek's eyes were watching me, now, instead of his father. Kit had even stopped talking. Everyone was looking at me as I gave Liz a smile. She smiled back, her socks still as vibrantly crazy as ever. "You rang?" She said, drawing out the words.

"Hi, Liz," I said. I was relieved when she wasn't suctioned away from me, either. I figured that maybe she knew something about what was happening to the ghosts when they were pulled away from me. She'd said something, once, about a place where she could hear me but she couldn't bring herself to move. I figured that had to be some sort of ghost limbo, but I wasn't an expert on this stuff. Maybe she knew a little more than I did. Besides, she had said that there were other ghosts around sometimes. Maybe she'd gotten some useful information from them. "Are you ready for a mission?" I asked.

"You bet," She replied, wiggling her toes as she perched on the counter right next to Tori. Tori gave a short shiver, her eyes following mine as she looked at the general space where her friend was seated. "It gets boring out there. Wherever it is." Okay, so maybe she didn't know everything. But there was still the possibility that she knew more than I did. And a ghost that only I could see was definitely a good spy. "What can I do for you?" Liz crossed her legs at the knee and assumed a pose I thought was supposed to reflect the look of an investigator.

"A-A girl d-d-died out here recently," I said, stumbling over my words. I wasn't really sure if Liz had gotten over the fact that she was dead or not. There were times when it really didn't seem to bother her, like maybe she'd come to accept it or something. And then there were times when it seemed like Liz still thought that she was just on some sort of twisted astral plane. I really wished that it had been the latter.

Liz's interest was instantly piqued. "Think about your words before you say them, Chloe," She said. She always said it softly, like she was talking to a child who might not understand her. I had the feeling that this was the same tone she'd used with her little brother. Probably even the exact same words. I wished that I could hug her. "Tell me about this girl. Are you thinking that I might find her around here somewhere? It was pretty empty when I was heading this way."

"I'm not really sure where she is." I said back, glancing around the room. The others were all waiting, some impatiently, others like we had all the time in the world, for me to say what exactly Liz and I were talking about. It was so easy to forget that they couldn't hear her like I could. "Do you remember Liam, Liz?" I asked.

"The werewolf that Derek _accidentally_killed? Sure. Why? What does he have to do with this girl?"

"Well, I'd been talking to him right after he died, and he sort of… I don't know, got sucked away from me. I haven't seen him since. And then when I was talking to this girl, Chelsea, she was about to tell me who had killed her when the same thing happened to her."

"She just got sucked away?" Liz asked quietly, glancing around the room. I didn't think she'd be one of the ones that just disappeared right in the middle of the conversation. She'd been hanging around for a while, now, and I never seemed to have much trouble finding her. At least I had one ghostly constant in my life.

"I don't think it will happen to you, Liz," I said.

She gave me a small, sad smile. "Well, I guess I can ask around. I've never heard of that happening, but then again not many of the ghosts want to talk about how they died, or what went on in their lives." She gave a shrug, but I could tell that she was forcing herself to keep her cool. "I'll find out about it. Anything else?"

"I just… if you can, can you try to find her? Her name's Chelsea. She's got short, dark brown hair that's straight, a gray T-shirt, and a pair of jeans. I think she'd wearing a pair of boots, too." I told her. I was sure that I'd just described half of the population of Texas, but Liz just nodded, not bothering to pessimistically point it out, like Tori would.

"I'll start looking," Liz told me. She turned to glance at her best friend, who was still staring at the counter space she was taking up. It was weird, to think of them sitting so close to each other and Tori not really knowing it. She had no idea what Liz was saying, or how her best friend looked. But Liz could see and hear her. It was like those one-way mirrors in crime dramas.

"Thanks. I'll call you if I have more information."

"And I'll find you if I find more." She said back. I really wished that I could hug her. "Well, I guess I'll get to it." She gave me another smile, wiggling the toes of her socks, before popping out of my vision. I stood there for a moment, wondering where she went.

In the silence, Tori said, "Liz? It's nice to, uh… have you around again."

I stayed quiet for a moment, and then said, "Tori, she's already gone."

"Well," Tori huffed, giving me a short glare. "You could've at least _told_ me that."

# # #

Kit had set up a meeting with John. John, the cowboy werewolf who reminded me of an old John Wayne western, a guy who set Derek on edge. I figured that it had to be because of the two of them being werewolves. I thought it had to do with something more wolf than human. Protection of territory, or something. In that case, we were in trouble, because John had been here a lot longer than we had.

"I think it will be good for you to talk to someone who has been where you are." Kit said. He was trying to talk Derek into going to the meeting. I sort of wanted him to go. Simon had Andrew and his dad to teach him about spell-casting. Tori had sort of befriended Gwen, the witch that was supposed to mentor her, until my mentor, Margaret, killed her. We'd all had someone to lead us, except for Derek. There weren't many werewolves out in the world that wanted anything to do with the other supernaturals, and Derek had definitely been the odd one out – not only was he a werewolf lumped in with the witches and necromancers, he was also the only surviving werewolf of the study. All of his brothers had been… terminated. I figured that might be good for someone to take the "helpful uncle" part of his life.

I didn't say that to him, though.

"John will be willing to share what he knows with his own experiences. Not only will you be learning more about yourself, Derek, you'll also be learning more about werewolves in general." He leaned forward to whisper something to Derek. I couldn't hear what he said, but I could just barely read the words on his lips – "And John might know something about mates, too." Derek glanced over his shoulder at me, threw a smile that didn't reach his eyes, and turned back to his dad. They had a hushed conversation, and after a few seconds I gave up trying to read their lips. They were talking way too fast for me to even know where to begin.

As I was watching them from a safe distance, Simon came up on one side. He watched his brother and his father for a moment, and said, "I know he's hard on Derek, but that's because Derek can go somewhere. He shouldn't be confined to where he is just because he's a werewolf."

"Oh, can it, Simon." Tori said on my other side. "You really need to stop watching Dr. Phil." She leaned against the wall, idly playing with little blue electric currents on her fingertips. Simon looked annoyed that she was playing with her magic so easily. It was times like this where I really felt bad for him, that the study had worked on him. He clearly wished that he was able to do the incredible magic that Tori was. But I wasn't sure that the price of having a bounty stamped on your forehead was worth it.

Then again, he could've just been annoyed because it was Tori.

"I'm just saying, _Tori_, that dad treats Derek like he can actually do something because he can. I was trying to make Chloe feel better about the royal lecture Derek's getting."

"I don't think it really matters. Derek's getting the talking-to, not Chloe. So what?"

"Chloe cares." Simon said roughly. He turned to glance at Tori, and for the millionth time, I caught the similarities in them. It must've just been the lighting, but their faces were always darkened when I caught their similarities. The face shape, the nose structure, even the cheekbones. Simon's eyes were more like his fathers, though Tori's hair was shiny black. She looked more like her mother, though, than her father. I guess that was a good thing, because otherwise the "secret" wouldn't be that much of a secret. Not in our group.

"Whatever, Simon." Tori said, "You're just glad that it's Derek, not you." She added, a little more venom in her voice than was necessary.

I nearly cringed. Here came the unknown-sibling warfare. Let the games begin.

**Shorter than some of the other chapters, but I felt that it was necessary to introduce Abigail (the grieving mother) and the help of Liz (you just have to love her. And her socks.)**

**Love you all for reading, and please, please, PLEASE leave me a review, because you know I like those, too. (: **


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you to everyone who has tuned in to my little story here. I'm pleased to post my next chapter (below).**

**chelsealovesya1995 – Interesting idea! I'll think about it, but I'm not really sure what that demi-demon can do to help Chloe. Anyhow, I'll play around with the idea in the upcoming chapters. Thanks for the input! (:**

**I just wanted to remind you guys that I have **_**The Hidden Truth**_**, a story that follows the idea that Chloe and the others have gone hunting for the other experiments.**

**I also created a new story, **_**Half Breeds**_**, which is about the adventures of Chloe and Derek's two children.**

**The Darkest Powers Series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

Derek was pacing. It was starting to make me nervous. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted him to go meet up with John, at least once. Derek _needed_ a mentor. He was always thinking about the fact that he had a wolf hidden inside of him. He always seemed to think that it was just a monster that he kept locked away inside of him. Maybe John could help him see that it wasn't just some creature that was abnormal for him. I mean, we were all _abnormal_. I just didn't want him to feel that deep-set feeling that said he shouldn't be around us. Shouldn't be around _me_.

"You need to have _someone_ tell you about the stuff that you haven't read about or heard from other people. When are you going to meet another werewolf that doesn't want to rip your throat out?" I asked, and then winced after I heard my words. I didn't want him to point out the fact that almost every other werewolf we'd run into had wanted to kill us or harm us in some way.

Derek didn't say anything. He must've been so wrapped up with indecision that he hadn't even heard me. I swallowed nervously and sat cross-legged in my chair. Simon was silent at the table, sketching away on a pad of paper that Kit had bought at his latest shopping trip. Tori was in her room, reading a book. She'd given Derek her two cents – "Just go meet up with the wolf guy and get it over with" – and promptly left.

"Derek," Simon said as his brother brushed past him for the fifth or sixth time. Simon sighed and turned his pencil over to erase the line Derek had cause across the page. He was still so focused that he didn't even notice. Simon rested the tip of his pencil on the page and watched Derek as he paused at the front window. He'd been staring out at it for the longest time. He was supposed to be out on the path in twenty minutes to meet up with John. Kit had said that if Derek didn't show up, John would take it as a sign that Derek didn't ever want to talk to him. His chance would be severed.

Derek leaned against the windowsill, his arms corded with muscle under his T-shirt. Derek was still wearing his baggy sweaters, but on our last shopping trip, I'd stuffed some shirts that would be closer to Derek's actual size into the cart. It was all he had to wear, even though he complained about it at first. I didn't like how he tried to hide behind baggy clothes and long hair. It was like he was trying to be something that wasn't him. I knew that feeling, and I didn't want _anybody_ to feel that way.

After another quiet moment, his eyes staring out the window, I stood up from my chair. Simon lifted his pencil as I passed, as if I was going to bump into him and cause him to draw another straight line across his sketch. I stood behind Derek for a moment, wondering what he would do if I tapped him on the shoulder. He'd been so out of it I wasn't sure if he had heard me walk across the living room. I was scared that he was going to panic and turn around to deck me, as if I was an enemy who had snuck up on him.

"Derek," I said quietly, moving to his side. I leaned against him, wrapping my arms around one of his. He let out of a pent up breath and glanced at me. His green eyes were ablaze. I couldn't tell if it was a hint of the Change or if he was just really conflicted. He glanced back out the window as I rested my head on his shoulder.

I heard Tori's bedroom door open, but I didn't turn to look at her. She was probably just grabbing something to snack on, or she slyly trying to see if Derek was still in his moment of indecision. It was weird to see him like that, because Derek hardly ever had trouble deciding something. He was always so blunt and decisive, and once he'd made a decision he wanted to keep it.

"Oh gross," Tori said. I turned around to face her. Derek continued to look out the window. "Can you two go cuddle somewhere else or something?" She held an apple in her hand, watching the two of us with narrowed eyes.

"Leave them alone, Tori," Simon said without looking up from his drawing.

"Don't tell me that you enjoy seeing them all over each other." Tori shot back. I sighed and shook my head. I was starting to doubt that there would ever be a day when Tori and Simon wouldn't argue over something stupid. It seemed like most of the time they argued on what other people should do. It was like neither of them could think of anything else to talk about, and they obviously enjoyed antagonizing the other.

"I think you should let them do whatever they want." Simon said back. He dropped his pencil and reached for the set of colored pencils next to him. He carefully opened them up and tapped the pointed end of one of them as he carefully shaded in his sketch.

I rolled my eyes and put my elbows on the windowsill next to Derek's hands. I nudged him with my shoulder, but he didn't do anything. I sighed heavily. He reached up and put a hand on my lower back, drawing me into his side.

"What do you really think I should do?" He asked me in a low whisper as Simon and Derek argued in the background. I looked up into his eyes. He really was fighting with the idea of meeting up with John.

"Well, I think there are two sides to it. Why do you want to go talk to John and why _don't_ you?" I asked, holding up my hands in front of me, prepared to count off the reasons.

Derek shook his head. "Reasons I do? He's a werewolf, like me." I put one finger up on my right hand. "He knows things that I don't know about, and they're from experience." I put up another finger. He sighed, running his free hand through his hair. "And he might know a little more about the Changes and the mate thing than I do." I put up two more fingers.

"And the reason why you don't?" I asked, holding up my fisted left hand.

"Why?" He repeated. He put a hand on his chin like he was seriously debating it in his head. "Well, he's a werewolf, and the males of my kind generally don't get along. And it won't be pretty with him being a lone wolf. And I guess I'm considered a lone wolf, too. His wolf sees this place as his territory, and it won't like me here." I put up a single finger. "And then I'm not sure if I trust him. We don't know anything about him. He could be some crazy killer for all we know." I winced as I put up another finger.

"Anything else?"

"I think that last one should count for three more fingers." Derek said. I looked up at him and caught the small smile that crossed his features for a moment before he shook his head.

"It's a single reason, Derek." I said back. "And look. Four reasons why you should and two why you shouldn't. You'll be better off learning something new than sitting here what you could've learned. And we'll always know when you're with him, won't we? Plus, your dad trusts him, doesn't he?"

"I'm not really sure. I mean, Dad trusted Andrew."

I bit my lip and nodded. He was right. Kit _had_ trusted Andrew, who'd kept Simon and Derek away from their father. He'd sent Kit on a wild goose chase to find his sons, when they'd been right under Andrew's finger the whole time.

"You dad had a past with Andrew. Past friendships are hard to ignore, even when you know they've changed." I said.

"Are you thinking about your aunt?" Derek asked me quietly.

"No, but I guess that could be applied to her, too, huh?" I said. I sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Ten minutes, Derek."

He shook his head. "You're trying to distract me." He said.

"Is it working?" I asked. I played with the edge of the curtains, pushing them back and forth.

"Sort of," He said back. I gave a short laugh, but it didn't really have any humor in it at all. He brought his face down to mine. His nose brushed my jaw and he took a deep breath. "You smell good," He offered.

"Are you trying to distract me?" I asked, my breath a little caught in my throat.

Derek laughed, a real laugh that I could feel. It rumbled out of his chest, and I couldn't help but smile back. He gave me a peck on the cheek. "Is it working?"

"Sort of," I replied, trying to keep a straight face. Derek gave a low chuckle, and we both glanced at the clock. "Seven minutes," I whispered to him.

"Seven minutes," Derek repeated. He sighed and said, "Okay. I'll meet up with John. But if I don't like this, I won't be going back."

"You'll be fine. You need someone that you can talk to who has gone through the same stuff you have," I told him. His arm had drifted to my waist, pulling me close to him.

Tori gagged loudly in the background, and I couldn't help but throw a glance over my shoulder and laugh.

# # #

I waited at the window. It had been an hour since Derek had gone to meet with John. I'd stood there then, too, watching carefully. John had showed up two minutes before scheduled, standing in the middle of the road. He had crossed his arms and tapped his boot on the ground. Derek had given me a quick peck on the lips before going to the front door. I'd watched him walk down the few steps to the dirt path, and then I'd watched him as he shook hands with John. John clapped him on the shoulder, and Derek had nodded to something he said.

Simon had completed one sketch, and he'd turned to working on our comic book. For forty-five minutes, I'd sat down on the couch and watched him as he drew out the hallway of the building that we'd been trapped in when I'd released the demi-demon. He carefully showed the cracks in the walls, the way the ceiling had started to come apart. It brought back memories – both ones where I'd shown the strongest point of my power and ones where I'd been scared for my life.

But now I was back at the window, waiting for Derek to return. I was dying to know what he was going to say about his meeting with John. I wanted this to be what would help him. He really needed someone to be a mentor for him. Kit had done his best, but he wasn't a werewolf like John was. Like Derek was.

I caught a hint of someone moving in the dark shadows down the path. I perked up a little, and Simon glanced up from where he'd been at the coffee table for the past hour. "Is he back?" He asked.

"I think so. I can't really see who it is." Simon shoved his colored pencil back into the box and had come to the window. He leaned onto the sill next to me. He squinted into the dark. As the figure drew closer, I thought I could see Derek's broad shoulders. I could just barely see the way he walked, but it was definitely Derek's gait.

I went to the door and opened it up, stepping out onto the porch. Derek's pace picked up, and he was suddenly in front of me, heading up the steps towards me. He took my wrist in his grasp and glanced over his shoulder before shuffling the two of us into the house. He shut the door behind him and leaned up against it.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Simon stood right next to me, waiting for his brother to say something. Tori's door opened and she glanced out at us. I had the feeling that she was secretly tuned into everything that went on out here, because she always seemed to step out right when something interesting was about to happen.

"John," Derek whispered. He said it loudly enough so that all of us could hear us, but it was like he didn't want to tell anybody. I leaned closer to hear him a little bit better.

"What about him?" My voice was a whisper, too, on its own accord.

"I'm not really sure, but John's hiding something."

"Like what?" Simon asked. He cleared his throat and glanced out the window. We could see Kit's cabin from our front window. I followed his gaze and saw Kit moving around in his living room.

"I'm not sure, but he skirted lots of questions." Derek shook his head. "I'm going to meet up with him again. I don't really like him, but I _have_ to know what he's hiding."

"Are you going to tell your dad?" I asked quietly.

Derek shrugged. "I'm not sure he'd believe me."

"So, does that mean our little group is back together? You know, running from possible killers, dodging bullets and darts, hiding away in the dirtiest places of the United States?" Tori offered.

"Not exactly," Simon replied. He pulled the curtain closed and turned to look at us. "We still need Dad, and we definitely need to stay here for a little while longer. We can't just up and leave, Tori. We don't have money, we don't have a plan."

"It's easy to get money." Tori said, wiggling her fingers. I thought I caught the hint of blue sparks dancing on top of her fingernails.

"We're not stealing things, Tori." Derek said sharply.

"I'm not talking about stealing things. Just coercing them into being given to us." She said. She raised her eyebrows at him. "Do you really think we can just sit here and let everyone else try to take care of something that's about us?" She asked.

I stopped to consider that. I'd never really thought of that before. Could we really hand our problems off to someone else and expect them to take care of it better than we had? Granted, those other people that we had looked to had money and connections that we didn't. They had plans and hidden places and information that we didn't. But they didn't understand where we were coming from, or what had happened to us. They could only imagine. It was sort of like the reasoning behind Derek going to meet up with John in the first place. John knew what Derek had gone through better than any of us.

But John didn't know _exactly_ what Derek had gone through.

I glanced up at Derek, wondering if he was thinking the same thing. By the look on his face, I would say that it was a yes. Apparently, it hadn't crossed Derek's mind, either. Or maybe it had, and he'd just ignored it.

"Tori." Simon said. Nobody really had a reply to that, but at least someone said something to her. She still looked pleased that her question had left us speechless, though.

"I'm just saying. You guys think about it. I'm ready to go any time you guys are." She said, turning to face her bedroom door. "And that John guy? I think he's up to something, too."

I sighed and put my face in my hands. It was so much to think about, on top of trying to figure out about Chelsea's death. I was still waiting on Liz to get back to me on that, since no one really knew about. I didn't even know where to start without her. Now I had to worry about Chelsea and about John, and then Tori had gone and opened up a can of worms on the darkest thoughts that everyone here had had at least once.

"Chloe," Derek said quietly, putting a hand on my arm. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. I forced myself to give him a bright smile. "I'm perfectly fine. There's just a lot of stuff going on right now." I told him.

"I know," He said quietly. He shook his head again. "We're over our heads, and we've got no one we can really turn to. Not right now," He said. He gave a short, angry sigh.

"We'll figure something out," I told him quietly. "We've _have_ to figure something out."

Derek gave a low growl and leaned forward to press his lips to mine. It was quick, but I could tell that he really meant what he said. He cared about me, and that was all that really mattered right now. Even if we couldn't figure out all this stuff that was floating around us, we were together.

I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him back. He pulled away with a small smile. I smiled back, wishing that maybe we could be under different circumstances, because all any of us wanted was an easy life without the worries of hiding from people that wanted to kill us.

Maybe. Someday.

**Short chapter, I know. I was supposed to be writing a paper on patriarchy, but this was so much more interesting. Haha (:**

**Leave me a review, and don't forget to check out my other Darkest Powers stories, **_**The Hidden Truth**_** and **_**Half Breeds**_**. Thank you! (:**


	17. Chapter 17

**GOOD GRACIOUS. I was just reading the past chapter so I could see where I'd left off when I noticed an ad for a John Wayne CD. It just struck me as ironic because I'm continually comparing my secretive John the werewolf character to John Wayne. Pure excitement. Lol (:**

**Taste the Rainbow- Or Else – Thanks! Let me know if you like them. Lol (:**

**jmads – Thank you! I'm glad you like it.**

**The Darkest Powers series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

Derek and Simon had basically moved into the cabin that I shared with Tori. I wasn't really complaining that much. More often than not, Derek and I would fall asleep on my bed after Tori and Simon had stopped arguing for the night. It was nice to just lay back and talk to him. Derek and I had become close because of our adventures together, but now our relationship was stronger because of those little tidbits that we knew about each other.

Derek had already fallen asleep. I lay on my back, looking at him. When he was awake, it wasn't uncommon to see a scowl on his face. I think his mouth was permanently downturned, eyes constantly narrowing at even the smallest things. He tended to slouch forward and keep his eyes hidden by his hair. But when he was sleeping, his constant attempts had not standing out disappeared, and he was just himself. His black hair, no longer greasy-looking, hung over his face. His eyelashes were incredibly long, dusting the top of his cheekbones. And his slight frown didn't look like he was frowning, really.

"Chloe." I jumped, thinking that somehow Derek had seen me and said something, though it was clear that he was asleep. After a moment I realized that it was impossible for Derek to say anything, since it had clearly been a female's voice. I glanced around the room. My heartbeat slowed when I saw who it was.

"L-Liz," I said, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "You scared me."

She glanced over at Derek asleep on my bed. I'd already pulled the blankets up to cover him. Texas didn't seem to have a stable climate. It was sometimes hot, sometimes cold. I could never guess what the weather was going to be like. Liz looked at me accusingly, her eyebrows raised. "Well, I got some information for you, though I don't think it's anything you want to hear." She said.

"What?" I asked, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

"It's not for certain, but some of the ghosts that agreed to talk to me said that generally, the dead can't tell who killed them. But nobody knew about being sucked away from a necromancer. Some of them didn't know what a necromancer was. Most of them thought that you were just a story," She added, nodding at her words. She sat down on my window sill, glancing at the floorboards. "And I couldn't find this girl, Chelsea. I looked for her but nobody knew who she was."

My eyebrows furrowed together. "Do you think I can call her?"

"I don't know," Liz said. "I think you should be more careful about summoning." She said seriously. Liz had always seemed eccentric and a little insane, but she was kind and helpful. Now, she was being serious, acting like an older sister. It was strange, because I'd never had an older sibling. The only people who I'd ever asked for honest-to-God advice from were Aunt Lauren, Derek, and now Liz.

I nodded. "You're right. I don't want to raise any animals, and I've already accidentally shoved Chelsea back into her body." Liz shivered at the idea, and I tried to pretend that it was nothing. "Thanks, Liz."

"No problem." She looked over at Derek and then back at me. "Can I tell you something else?"

"What?"

"This thing you have with Derek… you should really hold onto it. In all the time that he'd been at the Lyle House, he hardly ever talked to anyone but Simon. But look at him now." She laughed a little, and gave me a sincere smile. "I'll do some more digging, Chloe. But you should be careful, okay?"

"I will be. Thanks, Liz." I said.

She nodded, and then she was gone. I sighed and lay back on my bed. Derek moved a little, turning on his side to face me. I pulled the covers up to my shoulders, shivering a little bit. I didn't think it was cold, but it was more of what Liz had told me. I needed to be careful. And I needed to keep a hold of Derek, because he was the only thing that was anchoring me right now.

I curled up into a ball, fitting myself next to him. Derek sighed in his sleep, the hint of a smile brushing over his lips. I found myself smiling back at him, despite the fact that he was practically snoring.

# # #

When I woke up, I was alone. I figured that Derek was with Simon and Tori in the main room, so I took my time getting dressed. I even paused to halfway make-up my bed. I brushed my hand over my hair, trying to get it to lay flat. After about thirty minutes, I reached for my bedroom door and stepped out into the living room. Simon was already seated at the coffee table, which had pretty much become his new place of residence in the house. Tori was curled up in one of the chairs, a book open in front of her. Derek was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Derek?" I asked.

"He went out to meet up with his wolf buddy." Tori answered without looking up from her page. Simon picked through his colored pencils, not bothered to answer me. I narrowed my eyes at them. They _had_ to be hiding something. Tori could always be sarcastic, but Simon would always answer me or send me a smile. The way he stared dejectedly at his sketch was what tipped me off.

"What are you two hiding?" I demanded. Tori and Simon glanced at each other. It must've been something big, then, because the two of them never would have been able to do something together. It was hard to wrap my brain around the fact that the two of them would band together for any reason. I figured that Derek had to have a part in it. Had he told them not to tell me where he was? My heartbeat picked up, and I swallowed nervously. "Where's Derek?" I asked again.

Simon cleared his throat. "He went to meet up with John." He said.

"For _what_?"

Tori closed her book with a snap. She looked up at me, her eyes serious. "Fine, whatever. He wants to figure out what's up with this John guy. He thinks he might have something to do with this dead girl."

"Her name is Chelsea." I said.

Tori cleared her throat and said, "The point is, he thinks that this werewolf friend of his either had something to do with her death or knows more than he's telling. He's hanging out with him to try and get information. He didn't want you to know for some reason."

"Tori," Simon hissed.

She shrugged. "Hey, I tried. And what's it to me?" She said. "I think she deserves to know what her guy's doing in his free time."

Simon turned to me. It was obvious that he was trying to do some sort of damage control. "He's just doing some looking around. You know as well as I do that it's easy to find information when you're on the inside." He said. "It's nothing to worry about, Chloe." He said.

I hadn't been worrying about anything. I was just wondering where he had gone, without saying goodbye to me first. But the way they were being all secretive scared me. I wouldn't have thought about it if they hadn't continued to try and deflect _something_. "I'm fine, Simon." I said, brushing past them and heading towards the kitchen.

"Chloe –"

"Liz came and talked to me last night." I said, cutting him off. Simon didn't say anything, and Tori didn't move, but I could tell that her interest was piqued. "She just wanted to let me know that we're basically getting nowhere with Chelsea's death." I said, pouring myself a glass of milk.

"Did she find out anything?" Simon asked after a moment of silence.

"She just said that most ghosts that have been murdered can't say who killed them. But the ones at the Lyle House were able to tell me that it was Lyle." I said.

"When did you talk to ghosts at the Lyle House?" Tori asked.

I raised my eyebrows at her. I was debating whether or not to tell the truth to that when Simon answered for me. "After you tied her up and hit her over the head with a brick in the crawl space."

Tori's cheeks flushed, and she snapped, "Are we back to that? I apologized for it!"

Simon shook his head, but thankfully he didn't say anything else. I took a deep breath and shrugged. "The point is, Chelsea's ghost has disappeared. Liz can't find her, and I probably shouldn't try summoning anymore. I don't need to raise any more animals."

Tori shivered at that thought, but she didn't say anything else. Simon sighed and went back to his sketching. "Well, hopefully we can put all the pieces together and get this mystery solved. And then we should probably pick up and leave."

Tori snorted, eyes still on her book. "Finally."

# # #

I'd locked myself away in my room with a spiral. It was about time that I tried to catch up on the comic book of our past. Simon spent the majority of his day drawing and coloring, and here I was, too wrapped up in everything else to take care of my end of the deal. I was finishing up the outline of my side of the story from when Derek and I had stepped off of the bus for one of his partial changes. The bus had left without us, leaving our little group separated.

I thought that this would help get my mind off of things, but it just made it worse. I was constantly thinking about Derek and Simon and Tori, and the way our lives had taken a turn for the worse the moment I'd stepped foot in the Lyle House. I leaned forward in my seat, looking out my window.

I could see Aunt Lauren's empty cabin. It was dark without her there. It sort of made me a little bit sad. It sucked to look back at someone you cared about and realized that they'd double-crossed you too many times to forgive. And then there was Derek, who was keeping a secret from me. And then there was Simon and Tori, who constantly fought. We were a dysfunctional family, but it was still a family.

There was a knock on my bedroom door. I didn't move and I didn't answer. It didn't really matter, because whoever it was waited for about two seconds before twisting the knob and letting themselves in. I didn't look up to see who it was, guessing that it was probably Derek. Now that he was back, I realized how annoyed I was that he didn't tell me what he'd been up to. It was just the four of us – and occasionally Kit – against everyone. I trusted him completely. Why couldn't he trust me? Instead of looking up at him, I continued to look at my spiral page, tapping the end of my pen against my bottom lip.

Whoever it was stayed silent, which pretty much sealed the deal for me – it was Derek. Simon wouldn't have just stood there awkwardly, and Tori probably wouldn't have knocked in the first place. Even if she had, she would've walked in the room talking. I heard his footsteps as he moved closer. He leaned against the back of the chair, but I still didn't say anything.

"Chloe," His voice was low, and it was definitely full of concern. Was he worried about the fact that I knew? Or was he worried about my feelings? Was he worried about me at all? I bit down on the end of my pen. Derek brushed my hair off the back of my neck and massaged the muscles there. "Chloe," He said again, leaning forward, his breath hot on my cheek.

"I'm mad at you." I told him, looking away from him, towards the wall.

Derek gave a low growl and grabbed a hold of the chair, lifting the whole thing. I rocked back and forth in the hold of his arms as he turned the entire chair towards him. I glanced away, but he caught my chin and forced me to look up at him. I narrowed my eyes at him. Did he really think he could just walk in and tell me he was sorry, or pretend that nothing would happen and I would be okay with that? And did he think he could just show off his werewolf strength and I would fall into his arms?

"Chloe," He said as I adverted my gaze. He still had a hold on my chin, but he couldn't force my eyes to look at him. "Chloe," He said it a fourth time, his voice going hard. My eyes connected with his, and I glared at him defiantly. "So I went to speak with John? I didn't want you to panic about it."

"Why would I panic?" I asked.

Derek sighed and looked away for a moment. "Because, tying myself to him makes him think that he's creating a pack, and he might try to control me. Or he'll think that we're digging for answers, and he won't appreciate it very much, and he'll show how much he doesn't like it. And, if it just so happens that he _does_ have something to do with Chelsea, and he knows we're on to something, he won't hesitate to try and destroy us. He's a _werewolf_. What's inside him is inside _me_. I didn't want you to know because if it does become violent… I can't say that I'll play it fair." He looked at me again, and I could see the conflict in his green eyes.

"You should have told me." I said quietly.

"I know I should have." He said. "But just look at it from my point of view for a moment, okay? I don't want you around if there's going to be a fight. You don't need to see that."

"Derek, I've raised bodies and had skeletons crawl all over me. I've been next to you at almost every single change, and I've been attacked by a demon that licked my blood off the floor." Derek winced at the last little bit about the demon – he hadn't been around for that, and I couldn't remember ever telling him about it, the way the guard's body had twisted and become deformed, joints popping and tearing. I closed my eyes at the memory, trying to wash it away. It had been one of the moments when I'd been most scared for my life. "I've commanded the dead to kill someone else, Derek. There's nothing that John can do that could scare me or scar me for life, or even turn me away."

His green eyes searched my blue ones. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, and then let go of my chin. "Fine, Chloe. From now on, we'll be completely out in the open, even if it's disturbing and could scar you for life." The way he said it was sarcastic, but I could hear the serious words underneath. I bit down on my lip as he sighed and shook his head, taking a step away from me. Before I could think about it, my body was acting on its own accord. I stood up and reached out to grab his arm. He was so much taller than me that I had to stand on my tip toes and pull his face down to mine to kiss him.

Derek deepened the kiss, his arms tightening around my waist and picking me up a little to stand on the tops of his feet. I kept my hands on either side of his face, holding him to me. He growled and suddenly we were spinning. It was only for a second before my back was pressed up against the wall. Derek had one hand on the wall by my head, the other snaked around me and holding me to him. I pulled away to breathe, and he leaned forward to kiss underneath my jaw. He brought my lips back to his.

Someone knocked on the door, and we broke apart. We were both out of breath, but I think I was worse off than Derek was. Tori opened the door and peered in to look at us. She made a face and snorted, and then said, "Kit's in the living room. He wants to talk to the two of you." She gave a short laugh as she closed the door behind her. Derek ran a hand through his hair and I glanced in the mirror. My eyes were sort of glassy, my cheeks rosy. I had that just-been-kissed look. The blush that crept over my cheeks colored them even more, and Derek gave a short laugh. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, giving me a real smile before turning to the door.

"I better go see what dad wants."

"I'll be there in a few minutes," I replied, picking up a hairbrush. I might as well try to make it look like I hadn't been making out with his son.

# # #

"So what are you saying?" I asked. Kit had just told us that he wasn't sure that we could trust everyone at the ranch. Derek's eyes slid over to mine when he said that. It seemed that Derek and his father _were_ on the same page after all.

"All I'm saying is that it looks like we're back to trusting only ourselves. With Chelsea's death… well, we don't know who did it, and it's obvious that she didn't do it to herself." He gave me a look that said they were basing what had happened to her off of the short two minutes that I'd spoken to her. It made me shiver, and Derek reached over and ran a hand up and down my arm. "I wish that I could say we could trust them, but we can't even trust Ezekiel, Maggie, or Abigail." Kit said, shaking his head. He looked around at all of us, but his gaze lingered on Derek as he said, "We need to stick together and keep each other safe. That means no running off without a buddy."

Tori snorted. "The buddy system, really?"

"Tori, it's necessary. We need to know where everyone else is at all times." He said. "And Derek, I think you and Simon should stay in the girls' cabin, on their couch." He said it like he had no idea that the boys where still staying with us, but he knew. He had to know. Derek just nodded and didn't elaborate. Tori choked back a laugh, which I was thankful for.

"Okay," Simon said finally, "So what do we do from here?"

"I'd like to say that we can leave, but…." Kit sort of faded out, not finishing his sentence.

"But we need to find out what happened to Chelsea," I said, finishing for him. I didn't know if that's what he planned to say, but I didn't intend to leave without figuring out what had happened to Chelsea. I wanted to know where she had gone when she'd gotten sucked away from me, and I wanted to know how she died and who killed her.

"Right," Kit said. "We're going to have to be on our toes for the rest of our time here. And I'm being dead serious, Tori." He said, looking at her. She made a face, and he shook his head. "Okay, you four go on and find something to do. I'll try to figure out what everyone else here is thinking." Kit said.

Derek nodded and took my hand, leading me down the steps to the cabin that all four of us now shared. "He has no idea that we're doing our own little investigation, does he?" I whispered.

Derek shook his head. "No, and I'm not sure that I want to tell him about it."

"Go with your gut, I guess." I told him. Derek kissed my temple and Tori made a loud gagging sound behind us. I just laughed, and Derek even chuckled. I glanced down the dirt path that led down to the house Ezekiel and Maggie shared, and sighed. All we had to do now was figure out what had happened to Chelsea, and then we could leave.

**Okay, I figured it was about time to get another chapter out. Sorry for the horrendous wait. I've had an extreme writer's block for the past forever, and it sucks. D: But it seems like it's over, so look forward to more chapters in the future….**

**Please leave me a review, and don't forget to look at my other stories in this little section of , **_**Half Breeds**_** and **_**The Hidden Truth**_**.**

**Thanks again for reading! Peace (:**


	18. Chapter 18

**hawaiingrl – Yes, Kit is definitely a little naïve. It makes me smile. (: As for the bit about John… you'll have to wait and found out.**

**jmads – Aww, thank you!**

**totes magotes – Thank you kindly. (: **

**The Darkest Powers Series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

"We should invite John to dinner." I said. I'd been playing around with the idea for a while now. It seemed like it would be the only way for me to really get close enough to discern for myself whether or not he was a bad guy. For whatever reason, I didn't like him. I didn't want to say that it was because he was a werewolf, because Derek had proven that the stereotype isn't always true, but the fact that he _was_ a werewolf had something to do with it. As far as I knew, a wolf needed a pack. Derek's pack was _us_ – me, Simon, Kit, and even Tori. But John didn't have anything. To my knowledge, he'd been living by himself for a long time. I'd read somewhere that lone wolves are more dangerous, more impulsive, and more willing to be violent. I couldn't help but wonder if it was the same for John.

"No," Derek said it so quickly that I didn't really think he thought about it, unless he'd been able to read my mind. His dark glare had me glaring back at him, challenging him. Kit had told me that I should be careful around Derek, especially when it came to the wolf. But what did it matter? Kit obviously didn't trust Derek to know the difference between the wolf and himself, but I did.

"You didn't even think about it." I said.

"Chloe, it's completely against any self-preservation. I never would have pegged you for the type with a death wish." He said. He paused dramatically, and added, "Well, actually, if you think about it…." I couldn't tell if he was joking or if he was being serious. I _never_ went looking to get attacked or shot at. I grabbed the closest pillow and threw it at him as hard as I could. He skirted around it and then returned to the kitchen counter as if nothing had happened. I turned in my chair and pouted. If anything, I'd learned that while Derek was adamant that he keep me safe, he was also incredibly worried that I'd leave him or something like that. Tori had tried to explain it all to me at some point, but I had kind of tuned her out. It hadn't seemed important at the time, because I really wasn't planning on leaving Derek _ever_.

It didn't take him long to come up behind me, his arms crossing the back of the couch. One of his hands played with my hair, twisting thick strands around his fingertips. "Chloe," He breathed, his voice low. I forced myself not to look at him. "Listen, I know you want to try and figure this out, but these things take time. I'm definitely _not_ for you running into the wolf's den. Literally."

"I thought that was the lion's den," I replied.

"I don't see any lions around here," He answered. He took a deep breath, and I could practically see him in my mind. He would be shaking his head, worried about offending me, but also worried that I would do something drastic. It made me smile that he wanted to take care of me like he did, especially when he was the guy who had originally used me in his plan to get his brother out of the Lyle House. "It's dangerous, Chloe. It's just a bad idea."

"No offense taken," I told him sarcastically.

Derek leaned forward even more. His breath blew my hair on my cheek, and I had to _force_ myself not to look at him. "You know I didn't mean it like that." He said, his voice low and rumbling in my ear. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back on the couch, settling into my seat. Derek's arms left the back of the couch, and for a minute I thought that he had just decided it wasn't worth it and had stepped away from me. But then he was there in front of me, practically crouching so he could get down on my level. "Listen, Chloe," He said calmly, "I don't like John. I don't trust John. I don't believe John is completely innocent in _anything_. And there is no way that I'm going to let him around you."

# # #

Kit looked a little stressed out. He stood at his kitchen counter, hands on the edge of it. He shook his head as the food on the stove steamed. He took a deep breath and then turned around to move the pan from the heat. Derek sat silently beside me. He was still mad that I had won this argument, though I guess it couldn't really be called an argument. A _disagreement_ made more sense. I glanced over at him and tried for a smile. He just looked at me blankly, accusation blatant in his eyes. He had practically begged me not to do this, but this was something that I _needed_ to do, and I was sure that it would help us in the end. I wasn't stupid, and I didn't have a death-wish. There were things that he couldn't do. Things that I figured _I_ could do – like make John think that I was naïve. He was more likely to slip up if he didn't think I could thread sentences together as well as the next person. Derek had already proven his worth, and so had Kit. The only person left that could take any interest in werewolves without seeming suspicious was me, and I intended to use it to my full advantage.

I'd explained my plan to Derek, and while he didn't like it, he had to admit that it was a pretty good one. Of course, it put him on edge with all the possibilities of what _could_ happen, but that was a problem in any plan that we came up with. With mine, I could play the part that Derek had initially intended – a damsel in distress, or at least, a girl with a lot of questions and not many people that could answer them. It was the perfect ploy. That way I could really read into John's emotions and body language.

Tori opened the front door and stepped inside, not even bothering to knock. "Ugh, something smells." She said, glancing into the kitchen. Her eyes darted over us sitting in the living room, and she rolled her eyes. "What's the point of this anyway?"

"If you had come to the meeting earlier, you would know." Derek said back nonchalantly.

Tori waved a hand at him, wiping away his words. She sat down in the chair across from me and looked over me. She was probably assessing my outfit. Tori had practically been begging for a shopping trip at the mall for a while now. I wasn't always so against going with her – it made her happy, and it didn't kill me – but at this moment in time it just seemed like it was so unimportant. A girl had _died_, Derek was on edge, and something funky was going on with the ghosts. A shopping trip at the mall would _not_ ease our problems or effectively take my mind off of them. "So really, why do I need to be here?"

"To keep up the façade," I told her. "Just… be yourself." As an afterthought, I added, "And pretend that I'm pretty clueless."

Tori leaned back in her seat, a sly smile crossing her lips. "I don't think I'll have a problem with that." I rolled my eyes, but a low rumbling noise came right out of Derek's chest. Tori raised a hand, blue electricity sparking on her fingertips. "Bring it on, wolf-boy." She added.

"Tori! Derek!" Kit called from the kitchen. He sighed heavily, and I put a hand on Derek to remind him to stay calm. It was cute of him to want to protect me, but so not what I needed right now. Tori and Derek in an argument would be just as bad as Tori and Simon in an argument, except it would be more sardonic and quieter. I glanced over my shoulder at Kit. He was standing in the kitchen nervously, glancing at the clock. Like his adopted son, he hadn't been too fond of the idea, but he'd agreed that it was our best bet at the moment. We didn't have a lot of time to figure out who had killed Chelsea. We needed to get out of here before things got worse. It sort of felt like a ticking time bomb – would one of us be next?

"Where's Simon?" Derek asked, changing the subject. I shrugged, my eyes trained on the front door. I was hoping that Liz would be back by now so that she could help me keep tabs on John. I didn't know how much she was looking forward to hanging around with us again, because it looked like all she was going to be doing was shadowing other people for me. It was like a true haunting. But really, what else was there to do when you died? Immediately, I chastised myself for thinking about that. Liz was just as much alive as she had been when she was… alive. She was just a ghost. She was still who she was.

Tori shrugged. "I didn't know I was supposed to babysit him," She said.

Right then, the door opened. Simon shot Tori a dirty look. Apparently, he'd heard her from the front steps. "Hey," He said, nodding towards me and Derek. He headed straight for the bathroom – probably to test his blood sugar levels. Tori snorted quietly and crossed her legs in front of her, her eyes staring at the clock on the kitchen wall.

It was only a mere ten minutes later before there was a knock on the door. I started to stand up to get it, but Derek beat me. He jumped up from his seat and headed straight for the door. Kit paused in the kitchen while Derek's hand tightened on the doorknob. He seemed to be listening, or maybe he was taking a deep breath of the air around him. I wondered if he could identify who was on the other side of the door just by the scent. John couldn't have been there for long, and I had no idea whether or not Derek could catch it. We hadn't exactly spent a lot of time talking about his skills as a werewolf.

Finally, he pulled open the door. I stood up from where I was sitting. "Good evening, Derek." John said calmly. He held out his hand, and Derek took it easily. They shook once, but I wasn't going to be fooled. I could see the restraint on both of their faces. Neither of them was very fond of the other, and they weren't doing a very good job at hiding it. Derek withdrew his hand and stepped aside so that the older werewolf could get in.

"Hi, John," Kit said conversationally from the kitchen. "Come on in." John surveyed the room. His eyes darted from Kit to me and Tori in the living room. He actually kind of looked annoyed with Tori, who was sitting on the couch, doing nothing. I would put my money down that John was the old-fashioned, girls-make-sandwiches kind of guy.

"Thank you," John said lightly. The way that his eyes darted around looked a little suspicious to me, though. There was something _not right_ with him. I found myself starting to question him before remembering that I was supposed to pretend like I didn't know that he could possibly be dangerous. So, instead, I worked on trying to figure out how to rationalize him in my mind. Maybe he was freaking out because he was a werewolf, and werewolves were more inclined to the outdoors. Of course, that didn't make sense with Derek, but for what I knew, he liked being outside. He just didn't stress about being _inside_. So maybe he was just nervous about being around us. Werewolves had to be questioning over other people, right? I mean, Derek was when it came to new people.

Who was I kidding? There was a strengthening feeling deep down inside that John had something to do with Chelsea's death. Now I had to hope that those countless drama classes I'd taken before I started seeing ghosts would _help_ me when it came to acting like a ditz around John. I was a natural blonde, after all. I could pretend to be stupid, right? I'd seen girls to it all the time.

I tried to think of a way to work out how to start talking to him without seeming like I had something up my sleeve. I needed to pretend like I wasn't digging for information. Tori seemed to understand what I was going for, and she gave me a face when John's back was turned. She mouthed something to me, but was cut short when John turned around. With him seated in one of the armchairs, it was going to be hard for her to get her point across without him noticing. I struggled to make out what she'd said before she'd abruptly stopped, but I couldn't. She rolled her eyes at me and leaned on the arm of her chair.

"So, John, what's it like to be a wolf? Derek won't tell me anything about it." She said. I could see she was trying to keep from letting a dog joke slip. If she said that, John would definitely shut down. And Tori was giving me the perfect in to start asking stupid questions. I wished that I could mouth a thank you to her, but I just settled for giving her a meaningful glance. I was sure she picked up on it, but she didn't reply.

"Derek won't tell you, huh?" John asked, his gaze sliding over to where Derek still stood at the door. Derek just gave a shrug, like he didn't think it as important information. I had to hand it to him, he was doing a good job of pretending that he just didn't really care that much if I knew about werewolves. Of course, I already knew what it was like to be a wolf. Derek had told me once. One time was enough for me to get the gist of everything. Still, I went along with it, shaking my head. I made sure my eyes were wide, like I was shocked and completely interested. "Well," He said, mulling it over. "It's like… being free. And being able to do whatever you want. There's a power to a wolf than a human man could never understand."

That sure sounded a little scary, didn't it? Instead of looking a bit freaked out, I settled for completely entranced. Derek just barely shook his head at me. I couldn't tell if he didn't like my performance or if he was still against the whole idea. It was too late to back down, now. "So you know a lot about wolves?" I asked. "I mean… _werewolves_." I lowered my voice so it sounded more like a secret, and more like I was stupid enough to think that it still needed to be kept secret.

"I sure do," John replied. "I know Derek doesn't know nearly enough. I don't know how he's made it this far without me." I could tell that he was exaggerating because Derek definitely knew more than enough. He knew all about the Changes and how werewolves were made, their characteristics, and the majority of their pack information without ever having been _in_ a pack. Sure, his early days with his brothers had been arguably "pack-like" but they weren't even close to the real deal.

"Will you tell me more?" I asked him. I leaned forward a little more, like it was supposed to be a whisper. "Especially about this mate stuff. I don't really know…." I let my sentence trail off, and John looked amused. Amusement was _not_ exactly an emotion that I'd been looking for. Either he saw through me and thought that my acting was hilarious, or he thought that it was funny that I was so dense. I tried to keep from glancing at Tori.

John looked like he was prepared to tell me more, but Derek was suddenly by my side. I nearly flinched, but my brain was able to catch up fast enough to realize that it was just my boyfriend, sliding up next to me. "Dinner's ready," He said in a low voice. It was obvious that he didn't like John and me talking, but I thought he would stick to the plan. Even the plans that he thought were stupid in the past he'd stuck to, and a lot of the time, they'd actually worked. Of course, they backfired a few times, too, but there's not a single person on this earth whose plans _haven't_ blown up in their face at least _once_. I tried to send him a glare, or at least a wave of disapproval, without John picking up on it, but it was nearly impossible.

Kit gave me a reprimanding look too as I grabbed my plate. I tried not to glare at him because he _was_ an adult figure, but still. I figured that he would have a little more trust in me. I had survived an onslaught of attacks in the past few months that he'd always run away from. With that thought in my head, I bit down on my lip. Kit had never done anything to me. All he'd ever done was help me. But he did seem to think that we couldn't handle ourselves. And the people he'd trusted in the past hadn't always been out to help us. In fact, it had always seemed like it had been backwards.

I scooped food onto my plate and took a seat at the table. Within seconds, Derek was sitting right next to me. His plate was loaded with food to the point where everything was sort of meshing together, barbeque sauce bleeding onto his vegetables. I couldn't help but make a face at it as Simon slid into the seat on my other side. I realized, a second too late, that they were making a protective barrier around me. It reminded me of all those times where I would walk down the street, Derek walking right in front of me, barking out at me if I strayed too far behind or walked too close, and Simon pressing in on my side, keeping me out of view from the street. Those two boys were _always_ on my case. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it really was starting to cause a dent in my plan.

John sat down directly across from me. Like Derek, he had his fair share of food, but Derek still topped the list with the most food on his plate. Tori sat down on John's side, putting her in between the older werewolf and Kit, directly across from Derek. There was enough tension in the air that I could probably cut it with a _spoon_. John had to pick up on it. I slyly kicked Derek's ankle under the table, and he glanced at me, completely unbothered. Of course I, the tiniest one there, didn't cause him any pain. On the other hand, my toes were sort of aching. I had to have kicked that little bone that jutted out or something. There was no way I was that fragile. Derek's mouth curved up in a grin for a moment before turning back into the regular stoic frown. He chewed his food loudly. I knocked the side of my fist into his knee, trying to get his attention. Simultaneously, I nudged Simon's foot to get him to back down. He seemed to get the message, but Derek remained stubborn.

I finished eating my dinner – Kit had really done a good job with a down south barbeque meal – and so I sat silently and watched the others. Kit and John had an easy conversation, mostly containing our adventures during the meal. Tori kept sending me glances whenever John looked down at her food. I was sure that she thought that this wasn't working, but it was our only hope for me to get close to John. Derek was still eating, his eyes locked on the other werewolf like he thought that the older man was about to do something drastic.

I had my hands in my lap under the table. I was trying to figure out a way to convey to Derek that he really wasn't helping. If this failed, then we had nothing. I knew he didn't like it, but he could at least _pretend_. That would've been nice. But no, he was going to be stubborn and cause more problems. I was debating writing a note to him on my napkin, but I didn't have a pen. I couldn't whisper to him because I had no idea whether John would be able to pick up on it or not, though I was banking that he probably _could_. He wasn't paying attention to my simple kicks or nudges. After a second of deliberating, I reached out slowly and touched his knee. Derek sort of jerked the moment my fingers brushed over his jeans. He covered it off by pretending to have a sudden cough attack. I guessed it was believable enough. He sent me a sideways glare, and I glared back. John was, thankfully, still caught up in conversation with Kit.

_The plan_, I mouthed to him. Derek gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, and I squeezed his knee, my fingers digging in to his kneecap. His hand was suddenly on top of mine, his long fingers removing mine from his knee. Instead of just pushing my hand back to me, though, his fingers intertwined with mine. He gave me a gentle squeeze to let me know that he still didn't like this, and then his hand released mine. I sat there for a moment, trying not to act like an exchange had gone on between us. Simon, though, glanced at me. His eyes trailed down to my hands, now wringing together in my lap. When he looked back up, he gave me a sly smile.

"So, Chloe," John said. "I'm interested in how this young man met his mate." He inclined his head to Derek, who seemed to freeze for half a second for continuing. He wanted to keep the attention _away_ from me, and I was doing my best to draw it in.

I cleared my throat nervously. "I met him at a group home." I said back, focusing on my words. I needed to sound a little ditzy. And I was still fighting to get rid of my stutter. I found that if I thought about it enough, my words could flow easily. It just meant that my eyebrows were drawn together. I guess in this case, it would help me look a little more clueless. It would probably seem like I had a hard time remembering the simple stuff like that. But I remembered every moment with him, from the moment we'd met, to the moment he'd scared me to death while he was raiding the house pantry, to the moment where I realized that I'd sort of fallen for him and that moment when I'd first kissed him after waiting for it for so long. Derek's knee knocked into mine. I figured that he didn't like talking about this. John might use it as some sort of ammo against us. I didn't want him to know the depths of the relationship I had with Derek, but he already knew that Derek's wolf saw me as a mate. There was no hiding that little bit from him now.

"Really," John said. He didn't saw it as if it were a question. He said it as if he already knew that, and that put me on edge. He feigned interest well enough, though, that I couldn't be for sure.

"Yeah. The doctors all thought I was schizophrenic. I didn't know I was a necromancer. Derek told me what I was." I told him truthfully. I remembered those first few days, when I had honestly thought that I was schizophrenic. It had been a pretty scary moment. I'd sat there and wondered what was wrong with me? I realized now that my mental health was completely normal, aside from the fact that I could raise and command the dead.

"Interesting," John mused. "So tell me, how did you two get out of the group home?" He definitely had to be digging for answers. He was trying to measure my wit. I couldn't let him know that I'd figured things out and made plans of my own, that I had single-handedly (well, sort of) escaped from the Edison Group – once with Rae in tow, the second time with the help of a demi-demon.

"Derek planned it all, really. I just went along with it." I told him.

John leaned back in his seat. I found myself doing the same, settling down into my chair. This was it, then. Let the mental games begin.

**I know! I know! It was such a **_**long**_** wait. But thanks to Crixtine for urging me to update a chapter, or it might have been a longer wait. My apologies! I just got wrapped up in other stories – ones that you really **_**should**_** go read. Yes, I know, I'm using the end of my chapter (my author's babbling) to promote other Darkest Powers fanfictions written by yours truly. Scandalous, I know.**

**Any-who, please go read and review **_**Half Breeds**_** and **_**The Hidden Truth**_**. Both are Darkest Powers fanfics, the first being about Derek & Chloe's kids, the second being about a girl that is on that list of experiments from the list our loveable group stole from the Edison Group's building. PLEASE GO READ AND REVIEW THEM! (Excuse my improper use of capital letters.)**

**Thank you all for reading! Peace (:**


	19. Chapter 19

**Crixtine – You're never a hassle when you tell me to update. Sometimes I need the reminder. I'm horrible at time-management (yet I love time-management games on the internet?) and I tend to put all of my attention on one story at a time. It's knowing that there are people like you out there that really want the next chapter that keep me writing, so I thank you for that. (: [As an added bonus, I wanted to say that I just read your recent review for _Half Breeds_, and all I can say is SURPRISE!)**

**jmads – Thank you! I know it's taken forever to get to the major part of the story, but it's still coming! Thanks for reading (:**

**secretsercher – Ah, that is great praise. Thank you so much! I wanted to stay original while still staying true to Kelley Armstrong.**

**ChloeXDerekDP – I think that it is thanks to you that my reviews shot up in such a high number. We have now reached over 100 reviews for this story! I thank you (as well as all the others) for your devotion to this story. And I must say, I particularly thank you for joining the story and staying with it instead of giving up in the earlier chapters!**

**Raella – Thank you for reading! And I'm truly honored that you've stuck with this story. And thanks for understanding why I'm so pushy with the reviews. Lol :P As for my other DP stories, Half Breeds has really taken off, and I'm trying to work out my plan with The Hidden Truth. As of now, the latter story has been pushed to the back-burner, but Half Breeds is still up and running! (:**

**BreeTico – Thanks for devoting your free time to reading all eighteen chapters!**

**LoverBoysLover – And thank you, random stranger!**

**Crazy-Obsessed-Writer52 – I know, I'm so bad at remembering to write/update new chapters. But every review reminds me, so thank you!**

**The Darkest Powers Series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

It was simple enough. Anybody walking by the window would think that it was just conversation, but I knew better. Derek knew better. Simon, Tori, and Kit knew better. And I was almost _positive_ that John knew better than that. His smiles were always coy, barely showing any teeth. Forced. Lying.

I tried my best to keep up the ditzy routine. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't that difficult. I could now fully understand what the interest was in girls that acted so dumb. They were smart enough to know, and they were stupid enough to pretend like it didn't happen. They dumped out knowledge like you might dump out stale water. If there was anybody that you wanted to tell a secret to, it would be to a girl that pretended like nothing was important.

Over the next thirty minutes, John asked a question, and I would answer it as simply as I could, leaving out big details and "forgetting" things like names and places. He pretended like my answers were full, giving him exactly the information he was searching for. But the longer we stayed at it, the more frustrated he got. I could see it clearly on his face. His mouth, which was set in a barely-there, somewhat creepy smile when he was relaxed had turned into a downturned grimace. And his eyes, which were guarded, were obviously _too guarded_ in the I'm-hiding-something type of way. And honestly, as time passed, it became harder and harder to keep up the façade. Just pretending to be stupid had me feeling like my brain cells were actually dying as I sat there.

On most questions, I debated on whether or not I could trust Derek to give him a simple, non-cover-blowing answer. But in most cases, I'd just decided to answer it myself. It was tiring. Sometime throughout the interrogation session, Derek had taken my plate from in front of me and eaten whatever leftovers had been on my plate. Kit had even stood up and gotten a gallon of ice cream from the freezer, producing bowls, spoons, and even a bottle of chocolate syrup. I took a small bowl for myself, slowly squeezing out chocolate onto my single scoop before stirring it. It gave me about a minute where I didn't have to look up into John's face and risk having him see beyond my carefully hidden barriers.

My acting classes had taught me a lot about body language. It was a universal language that everyone could speak, and when standing on a stage, it was necessary to make a play. If the body language was wrong, then the words would seem wrong. The plot would seem wrong, and the entire storyline would be swayed by a mistake like that. It was sort of like the tone of a voice. People didn't yell out whispers or gently talk to people when they were angry. I was hoping that my classes would help me – instead of sitting up straight in my chair, I slouched a little bit. Instead of looking at him head-on, I pretended like I was distracted by bugs or cracks on the wall, even the pictures that were hung up by the dinner table and the clock that clicked incessantly with each passing second. I played with my spoon in my ice cream bowl, kept my voice low, and continued to look to Derek as if I needed help explaining something. I was hoping that it would fool John.

But John was smarted than I'd given him credit for. It was almost like he was doing the same thing I was. He was watching me with narrowed eyes – barely narrowed, of course, like he was tired instead of speculating. He was leaning back in his chair, fully relaxed. His eyes moved around the table, like he was trying to include everyone in the conversation when really, he was only questioning me. Sometimes Tori or Simon answered one of his questions, but for the most part, his attention rested on me or Derek.

Just as I was really starting to get into the groove of things, John changed them up on me. Instead of asking me about my past with the Edison Group and Derek, he switched to _me_. And it wasn't like he was asking me about what I did when I was locked up in a room alone, or how I had managed to get out of somewhere, but it was something that was deeper than just the past. Like I was his friend.

"What do you do when you're bored? Clearly, there's not much to do out here." He said.

I thought about it for a moment. I couldn't tell him that I liked movies, could I? I knew movie trivia like the back of my hand. But it was too easy for him to see that I knew a lot about them, proving that I wasn't as dense or forgetful as I was pretending to be. I needed something that wasn't a subject that I kept so close to heart. "I like music," I said, "But there's only music on the radio, and I can never find the station I like." I told him.

"And what station would that be?"

"Well, I don't know what it is here. But it's the cool stuff. You know, like stuff that people my age listen to." I glanced over at Tori. "Tori and I sometimes listen to it at night." She opened her mouth to argue with me, but she snapped it shut, pasting on a fairly believable smile.

"Yeah," She agreed. "But we don't listen to it very loudly. Derek says he doesn't like to hear it." She told him.

"I can understand the sentiment." John said, nodding towards Derek. Derek didn't move in reply to him, and he kept his mouth shut. "Is that all you do? Listen to music."

"Well, I watch Simon draw. He's really good at it." Simon, on cue, blushed. I couldn't tell if it was real or not, though. It was possible to _make_ yourself blush. I'd seen some really talented high school actors do so. But the red that covered Simon's cheeks couldn't be faked. "And I like to read, sometimes."

John seemed interested once again. "What do you like to read?"

I paused, trying my best to think of something was ultimately shallow and honestly didn't require too much thought. "Um, love stories." I told him. There. I liked a good love story, but it wasn't as deep as some other things. A love story wasn't something that really required memory or deeper thought. It was just _there_.

"Classic love stories?" John asked. I gave him a questioning look, and he said, "For example, _Wuthering Heights_? Or maybe _Pride and Prejudice_?"

I forced a blank look on my face. "Are those the old kind? The ones that don't use the same English we use today?" I asked him. "Because I don't read stories like that. I have no idea what they're saying." Tori, an avid reader (surprisingly) looked disgusted. I couldn't tell if she thought my acting was bad or if my words themselves were bad.

"They're definitely the old kind." John replied, a smile gracing his face. But it didn't make him look happy. It made him look… darker. He glanced at the clock and shoved back his chair. It squeaked on the wood of the cabin floor and stood up. "Well, I hate to eat and run, but it's getting late and an old wolf needs his sleep." This time, he flashed us a smile that showed his teeth. I think I preferred the tight, closed-lipped smile.

"Of course," Kit said, standing up. "Girls, can you please pick up the dishes and get them in the sink?" He asked. I chirped out an agreement, standing up a little klutzily. Tori snorted and rolled her eyes but stood up, taking hold of the bowl in front of her. Kit walked John to the door. "Thanks for coming, John. We'll have to do this again some time."

"Yes, we will," John replied. His eyes darted from Simon to our table. Specifically, to me. I pretended like I didn't see him, gathering the bowl in front of Derek and taking them to the sink. John and Kit exchanged a few unheard words, and then Kit closed the door behind him. He lingered at the door for a good while, and after a few minutes passed in silence, Derek headed straight to the window. He pulled down one of the blinds, peering into the night. After a moment, he shook his head.

"I don't see him. I don't hear him or smell him. But keep your voice down."

Kit shook his head. "I don't think it worked as well as you wanted it to, Chloe." He whispered.

"I thought it worked splendidly," I replied. "Because it was totally obvious that he's hiding something."

"Maybe he was just nervous," Simon offered.

"No, he wasn't nervous. You heard him. He thinks that the wolf is stronger than any of us. The only one he could possibly view as his equal is me, and he has experience over me." Derek replied. "And he was playing games with you, Chloe. God, I _knew_ I shouldn't have let you do this." He said.

"Easy, lover-boy," Tori interjected. She rolled her eyes, dropping one of the bowls into the sink with a loud clattering. "He could've just been really interested in Chloe's answers." She shrugged. "But I guess there was something more to it. He seemed to be digging for answers to me."

"He _was_ digging for answers." Derek replied sharply. He shook his head. "We will _not_ do that again. Chloe, you will stay as far away from him as possible."

"I can't do that," I disagreed, standing up straight against him. Sure, Derek was bossy. And he was stronger than me, and sometimes he really was smarter than me. But sometimes he let his emotions get in the way. For a guy that liked to believe that he was completely stoic, Derek could lose himself in what he was feeling. He could lose himself _in_ himself. It sounded funny, but it was true. He was one of the only people I knew who constantly beat himself down or argued over what he thought was right, offering up a piece of himself as the culprit behind everything. I had a feeling that this was one of those times. He was letting the wolf, a creature that he fought so hard against, overtake his rational thought. Sure, this was dangerous, but what part of our lives _weren't_ dangerous? Our lives had been royal messes since the moment I'd set foot inside the Lyle House. "He _knows_ something, Derek. Don't you see? This isn't just about us. It's about Chelsea, too."

"She's dead, Chloe. Face the facts. We need to leave here."

"I don't care if she's dead. She _existed_. And she died unexpectedly, suddenly. There's something not right here, Derek. You can't say there's not. And since when have you backed away from a challenge?" I asked, turning my glare on him.

He glared back. "I'm not backing down from the challenge. I'm removing a liability from it."

"I am _not_ a liability!" I shot.

"To me, you are." He said. "If anything happened to you…." I waited for him to finish his sentence. We were all silent, waiting. It was clear on his face. If something happened to me, he'd be crushed. And it was vice versa. But I trusted him to be able to take care of himself. Why couldn't he trust me? Of course, I was his mate. To him, I was fragile, breakable. In real life, I could be scrappy if I needed to. I shook my head, dropping the remainder of the bowls into the sink. Simon, Tori, and Kit all watched silently as I grabbed a hold of his arm.

"Come on, Derek," I said quietly. I nodded to Tori and Simon, wrapping my arms around his elbow. "Thanks for dinner, Kit." I added, heading towards the front door. I figured that this would be the best for us – to walk away from the situation and revisit it later, when we weren't so tired or irritated, when we weren't on edge. I glanced at Tori and Simon, I added, "We'll see you at the cabin, I guess."

I opened the door, and together, Derek and I stepped out into the night.

# # #

"What are you planning?" Derek asked me. He was sitting on the bed. He'd switch from his jeans and T-shirt to a pair of pajama pants and different shirt made of a softer cotton. I'd retreated to the bathroom to wash my face and changed into my pajamas. They were boring – black shorts and a loose T-shirt. But it was better than those God-awful clothes that Margaret had bought me when we'd been staying at Andrew's house.

"Honestly," I said, straightening up my room. "I'm not really sure." I told him. I turned to face him, sitting on the end of the bed. I scooted into his side and rested my head on his shoulder. "He's up to something, Derek. I don't know what it is, but I know I don't like it. And honestly, he's not safe. We can't leave here until we find out what happened to Chelsea, and we can't leave until we find out what kind of threat John is."

"He could just be the way he is because of his wolf." Derek offered. "Did you think of that?"

"Of course I did," I replied. "But that doesn't explain why he was questioning _me_ tonight. If he knows so much about werewolves, he could care less about you and your necromancer mate." I told him. I glanced up at him, and he shook his head.

"It's not that simple. I'm… well, I'm incredibly young to have a full Change. And I'm incredibly young to have a mate. Usually, a guy doesn't shift until he's in his early twenties. And even then, he doesn't find his mate right away. But I'm sixteen, and I've Changed, and I've found my mate."

I leaned against him, thinking about what would happen to him if he lost me. What would happen to me if I lost him. "Do you think John ever had a mate?" I asked quietly.

I felt rather than heard the rumble in Derek's chest. It was so gentle and quiet, sort of like the vibration in a massage chair. "Why do you ask?"

"What would you do if you lost me?" I asked him.

Derek shut his eyes, his arms tightening around me. "I don't know what I would do, Chloe. You're my everything. I have a feeling that I'd go a little crazy. I'd be lost without you." He whispered the words, his voice pained, as if it hurt to talk about it. As if it hurt to think about it.

"What if John lost his mate? Could that be why he's so standoffish? Why he's so interested in me?" I asked quietly.

I felt Derek shrug. "I don't really know. I know some things, but I'm not a genius or an expert when it comes to my own kind." He said. "It could be a number of things. He could've lost his mate and that's caused him to lose some of his marbles. But he's also alone. Wolves are naturally social creatures. Humans are social creatures. A person is miserable without contact. I have you," Derek said, and when he did so his arms tightened around me briefly before he continued, "And I have my dad and Simon, and sometimes even Tori. But John… as far as I know, he doesn't have anyone. He lives in that cabin alone. He knows Ezekiel through some sort of mutual friend, but that's all they have in common. In fact, they sort of stay away from each other."

"You think it's just a case of isolation?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "In prisons, inmates that are sent to isolation can go crazy. If John is secluding himself from the others, as well as not being accepted by the others, it could cause him to become a little… insane." Derek offered. I glanced up at him again. For the first time in a long time, it felt like he was being really thorough with his options. Derek didn't like having to choose something with very little evidence, which is exactly what we were going through. There were so many options with the mysterious werewolf, and next to no information to back them up. It could be that John had absolutely nothing to do with Chelsea's death. He could have just been a strange character at the ranch. Maybe putting all our attention on him was giving the real killer a chance to escape unnoticed.

"There's so many different scenarios," I whispered to him. "How are we going to figure this out?" I asked.

"I guess we'll figure it out like we always do."

"How's that?" I asked.

He smiled down at me. "Trial and error." He motioned to the clock. "It's probably time to get some sleep. We can't focus on if we're sleep deprived."

"So you're planning on focusing on this?"

"If you won't leave without figuring it out, don't expect me to leave you behind." He said. He pulled back the covers, pulling them back up over us. I snuggled into his side, and he wrapped his arm around me. "We'll figure it out, Chloe. But when we do, we're packing up and leaving, and we're never returning to Texas again."

"That's okay with me." I replied back.

# # #

In the morning, the four of us got together without Kit's knowledge. As much as we all wanted to trust him, he couldn't see things the way we did. He wasn't there while we faced down Davidoff. He'd only showed up at the very end. He hadn't been by our side as we broke away from the Lyle House and out of Buffalo. He had no idea what we'd been through.

And without him, we'd created our own way of figuring things out. We may have been young, but we weren't stupid. We knew how to handle ourselves, and we'd gotten ourselves out of more tight spaces than I could count – both literally and metaphorically.

I sat down at the table with Derek at my side and Tori on the other. Simon sat across from me, sketching out something in his sketchbook. He didn't have his colored pencils at his side, so I figured that it had to be something new, or maybe even something that he didn't intend to color. "So what's our plan?" Tori asked. "We can throw around ideas all day, but if we don't actually decide on something we'll never get anywhere."

Derek shook his head. "We're going to spread out and – Simon, are you listening?" Simon glanced up at us, his eyes wide. He dropped his pencil and made a show of closing his sketchbook, pressing his palms together and resting then on the cover of his book. "As I was saying, we're going to spread out and look for answers. Don't do anything stupid, don't do anything dangerous. Talk to people you know that you can handle, or at least go with someone else. And just ask questions. Don't seem like you're digging around. We'll eventually have to figure out who it was, if they're even still here."

"What, you think they left?" Tori asked.

"It's a possibility that someone snuck onto the property, killed Chelsea, and left." Derek replied. "Everyone's a suspect at this point."

"What happened to thinking John was in on things?"

"He still could be. But I have that handled," Derek replied. I reached out to touch his arm, to remind him to take a buddy with him – preferably me – but he didn't seem to notice. "But you can always talk to Ezekiel, Maggie, or even Abigail. And you might even try to see who else is out here."

"What exactly do you think we're going to get out of this?" Simon asked.

I shrugged. "If we get enough information from other people, we may be able to figure it all out. Like a big puzzle," I said. "If they give us information, they'll be like puzzle pieces, and maybe we'll be able to piece them all together."

"You certainly are expecting a lot from the people you just said we couldn't trust." Tori pointed out.

"It's all we can do right now." I replied.

**Okay, I know it's a ridiculously short chapter, but I'm tired. This is my third update for the day (yay!) and I'm kind of playing around with the future. I know I should already have it all lined up, but it's not all done, not yet.**

**As always, I thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read my story. I ask that you review my story (if not just to remind me to update) and I ask that you spread the story to DP fans about my stories (**_**Half Breeds**_** and **_**The Hidden Truth**_**.) Once again, thank you all! Peace. (:**


	20. Chapter 20

**Crixtine – I enjoy a little humor. I happen to adore love stories (the English kind, ha!) and since I'm always making Chloe complain about romantic comedies I thought it would be fitting. Besides that, strong but vulnerable male leads are my favorite. 3**

**SpellStorm – I haven't heard of anyone saying that Derek doesn't care, but I haven't read many other DP fanfics, either. That kind of annoys me; they're supposed to have a perfect relationship and everything! It's what we hopeless romantics want! (:**

**jmads – Thanks so much. I'll admit that I happen to love and their thesaurus section. I'm a bit of a wordy person, if I do say so myself.**

**Clayton Ashdown – Thank you so much. It really is a compliment. And thanks for the review! You've probably noticed that I love them.**

**lilmaimas – I was actually a little worried that the pace was too slow, so I'm glad it's to your liking. (:**

**Account Killer –Suggestion taken into consideration. I think that might be hilarious.**

**BabyCakezz – Wow, thanks! Sorry to keep you up; I've been doing the same thing, staying up late to read it. It's a good thing that I'm done with my classes!**

**Spluttered – Literally laughed out loud. Thanks for that.**

**O-M-G guys. I'm so, so sorry it took me this long to update. It's ridiculous, and sort of unacceptable. As of today, it's literally been an entire **_**year**_** to the day since I updated, so I hope you haven't forgotten (you might need to go back and read, like I had to.) I just finished two fanfics and finished typing up the chapters for a third, and I decided that it's time I put my attention back on this one. I think we might be getting towards the end, though I can't estimate the number of chapters left right now. I do, however, know the gist of how I'm going to end this. I don't think you'll see it coming!**

**The Darkest Powers series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

By Ezekiel's request, I wasn't allowed to talk to Abigail. And to be honest, that made sense to me. I _did_ accidentally shove her recently deceased daughter's soul back into her body. The poor woman had been subject to seeing her daughter crawl towards me since her body had a broken leg, which was probably pretty scarring. It was bad for me, and I was a necromancer.

Derek and I partnered together, since he was unwilling to let me out of his sight. I didn't mind, since I was going to glue myself to his side anyway. I always felt safer with him nearby, and figured that if he didn't like it, he'd have to deal. But I doubted he didn't like it. Tori and Simon didn't want to work together, so Tori had set out to innocently talk to Abigail while Simon had intended to talk to the remaining neighbors that we'd never met. Maggie had once told me that they were the shy type and weren't likely to introduce themselves, since they were probably here to hide from someone else. But it was worth a shot, because if Chelsea was around here often, maybe one of them would know something that could help us.

That left Ezekiel and Maggie to Derek and me. We figured it would be wise to seek them out for a reason other than Chelsea. Then we could slowly work her into the conversation. "So," I said as we split up. I looked at the ground as I walked, wanting to make sure that I didn't trip and fall flat on my face. "What are we going to ask Ezekiel about?"

"I was thinking that we could ask about the history of this place," Derek answered. He had to slow down his gait so that I could keep up without running. "When dad said that this was a safe place, I wondered how he knew that. Besides, they all seem pretty comfortable here. And since we are depending on them to keep us safe, it would seem smart to ask. I might even be able to ask how they know John, or at least how he came to find them."

I glanced over. "You just have everything planned, don't you?" I asked sarcastically. I liked to think that I wasn't incapable of making a plan, but I had to admit that if there was someone who was going to think of the best way to do something, it would probably be Derek. I think that was maybe one reason why we got along so well. We were both planners. And I knew how to step back and say that maybe I was being stupid.

"I try," he replied. He even punctuated it with the rare smile. I always felt good when I got one of those. He didn't smile often. I wish he would more. Maybe he wouldn't be so gloomy all the time.

Together we made our way up the path towards the house where Maggie and Ezekiel lived. I couldn't help but wonder why it was just the two of them. They said that they were brother and sister, but I'd never seen anyone else with them. Had either of them married? Were they divorced? Widowed? As my mind wondered, I kept switching my gaze from the dirt in front of me to the forest. It gave me chills to think about it.

Someone had killed Chelsea in the woods. My mind supplied gory images. Had they found her there and decided to take the lucky chance to dispatch her? Was it an accident that they didn't want to come out and admit to? Did they get into a fight? Or was she dragged out there against her will? Did they beat her before they killed her? Was that why her leg was broken, so she couldn't run?

The questions flew through my mind. It almost scared me how detached I could be. I was obviously getting more and more used to death, since it was the driving force behind my powers. But I still felt like I was missing something. I was calculating her death like it was something that I was going to write in a screenplay. Instead of focusing on _her_, like I had before, I was focusing on _why_. It was possible that Chelsea's death was random, that she was just picked out because she'd been seen the most, or because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I had the feeling that there was a very sinister reason behind her death. There had to be a motivation behind it all. And if we could figure that out, it would lead us directly to her killer.

I didn't realize I'd stopped in the middle of the path until Derek's shadow fell over me. He gave me a worried look. "I'm fine," I said without waiting for him to ask. "I'm just thinking. If we find out why Chelsea was killed, we'd be able to find the killer pretty quickly, right?"

"In theory," he answered. "Though going from the motivation point of view can be kind of messy. At first I thought we could go back and look at the crime scene, but it was disturbed. I could still smell the body – Chelsea – there, but around that were the animals that had been there, as well as Ezekiel and John. At first I thought that it might be a reason to point fingers, but Chelsea had been moved. Maybe John found her because of the smell, and he'd called Ezekiel to identify her and move her. I can't know for sure. So I didn't say anything, because I don't want John to know we're on to him."

"But we _could_ try to figure out the motivation." I said. "Maybe she knew something that she wasn't supposed to. Or she was threatening to tell secrets to get out of here. Maybe she hated it here." I said, glancing into the woods again. I wished that I could call her spirit, but Liz had said that she didn't think it would work. I hadn't seen Liam again after he was sucked away from me, but I hadn't tried either. Maybe if I attempted to call Chelsea again, I would succeed. Derek hadn't seemed too pleased with the idea in the past, but if we couldn't think of anything else, it was our best bet.

"Or she could've just been attacked for no real reason at all. It could've been a mistake after a confrontation," he said. He ran a hand through his hair. "I don't think we knew her or our neighbors well enough to make any guesses. I just don't know how we're going to figure this one out," he sighed. "And every day that we stay here is just another day that one of us could get into trouble."

"I don't want to leave without finding out what happened to her, Derek." I said quietly. "You didn't see her face. When I accidentally put her back in her body, I asked her if I could keep her around to talk. She nodded her head, but she still looked dazed when I told her that I could see her. The look on her face… I don't think it had much to do with me. I think it was because she couldn't believe the person who did that to her would do it."

"You mean, you think she knew her killer?"

"It's a possibility," I said. I racked my brain for a few more moments, and then sighed heavily. "But that's probably a dead end, because if she and Abigail were living here, she probably would've known the others that are staying here."

We stood there for a little while longer until Derek suggested that we go talk to Maggie and Ezekiel. They'd told us that they were related to Abigail, and therefore Chelsea, I just didn't know how. It crossed my mind that maybe Chelsea was a granddaughter to one of them. They were old enough to hold that position. However, Abigail didn't look much like either of them. But that didn't mean much. Simon only looked like his father in the face, while his hair was his mother's. Sometimes genes worked their way out in weird ways.

We trekked the rest of the way to the house. Derek knocked on the door. We stood there for a while. He kept his eyes focused on the door and the long windows on either side. I looked down off the porch, into the woods, and towards the road that would lead out of the compound. Was it possible that someone had broken into the place just to kill Chelsea, and then escaped? If someone really wanted to, they probably could've climbed the fence. While it was still a theory, I felt in my gut that it wasn't right. The killer was one of us, one of the people hiding here for whatever reason. It didn't make me feel comfortable.

Derek raised his fist to knock on the door a second time. Just before he touched it, though, it swung open. Maggie stood on the other side of the threshold, wiping a dish down with a stained towel. "Well," she said brightly, "I didn't expect to see either of you here. Come in, come in," she said, stepping aside. Derek stepped in first and I followed dutifully, staying close enough that he could come to my rescue if I needed him to. "What can I help you two with today?" She asked, heading back towards the kitchen.

Derek and I looked at each other for a moment, and then we followed in her wake. He cleared his throat as we stepped into the room. I eyed the knife block sitting on the counter. I hated the fact that we had to assume that no one was an ally, but it was safer that way. "We were just wondering what you and Ezekiel could tell us about the history of the place. Like, how you guys found it, and how it got to be a safe place for people like us." I noticed that he didn't say supernaturals. I realized that I had no idea if Maggie or Ezekiel were supernaturals, or even if Chelsea had been one. It seemed like important information. I wondered why none of us had asked before.

"Oh, that's a good story," she said, a smile touching her face. She looked sweet, grandmotherly. Her looks alone discouraged any accusations. But we all knew that it was the quiet ones we had to look out for. "Let me finish up in here, and we'll go out back. Ezekiel's doin' the crossword." She said.

I offered to help, and, like before, Maggie politely declined. She rushed around the kitchen, drying dishes and putting them in their rightful places. After that was finished, she offered us something to drink. We both declined, so she poured a tall glass of sweet tea for Ezekiel and we went out back to find him.

Just as Maggie had said, he was sitting there with the daily newspaper and a sharpened pencil in hand. To me, he didn't look like the type of guy that would enjoy complicated crosswords, but who I was I to say he couldn't do them? I doubted I looked like the type of girl that wanted to write and possibly direct movies, particularly action/adventure thrillers. Maggie gave him his sweet tea. Derek and I pulled up wicker rocking chairs.

"They want ta know about the history of this place, Ezekiel," Maggie said. Sometimes I thought she seemed a little too peppy, but Tori would probably say the same thing about me, and I hadn't been off killing people lately. I just raised them from the dead.

"Is that right?" He asked. He folded up his crossword and set it aside, tucking the pencil in between the pages. "Maggie and I love it when young people delve into history. It's a wonderful thing, our history." I nodded enthusiastically. I wanted to be on his good side, and that meant luring him into telling me everything.

It turned out that we didn't have to work that hard to get them to tell us everything there was to know about the place. Ezekiel told us that his great-great grandfather built the place. We learned early on that he was a warlock, which meant that Ezekiel shared the abilities. I couldn't remember if that meant that Maggie was a witch or not, like if it was only passed on from mother to daughter, and didn't have the guts to ask. Ezekiel told us that his grandfather had wanted a place where supernaturals could be themselves. He'd set out with the hopes of creating a town where magic was accepted, but eventually figured out that it would be too hard to support a whole city, much less keep it secret from the surrounding area. So instead, he'd settled for turning his own land into a compound for supernaturals needing a retreat from the outside world. For a while, Ezekiel said, every single one of the cabins was filled. There were more cabins on the other side of the woods that probably hadn't been opened in decades. As time moved on, though, people began to worry about the high concentration of supernaturals, and eventually they decided that it would be wise to disperse. Some stayed and others left, and eventually it was just Ezekiel and Maggie that were supposed to live there permanently.

Ezekiel told us that his father had passed on the compound to him with instructions to keep it safe. He'd been doing a good job of it, too. He had planned to pass it on to Abigail, who, it turned out, was Maggie's daughter. He still intended to, but he was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle it on top of the death of Chelsea. He also said he lamented the fact that Abigail wouldn't be able to pass it on to Chelsea when she got to be his age.

Finally, there was the opening that we were waiting for. I dove in head first. "It's a shame that we didn't get the chance to meet Chelsea." I said. I didn't have to school my expression into sadness. It _was_ sad. She was just a young girl, and most likely hadn't deserved the fate that had become her. It just made me more determined to find out who killed her.

"It is." Ezekiel agreed. "She was a beautiful child, really. She was always very curious. I used ta tease her that it would get her back in the end." He sighed. "I can't help but wonder if it did her in." He added softly.

"What do you mean?" Derek interjected. He managed to sound perfectly innocent. I chanced a glance at Maggie to see what she was thinking, and was shocked to see the tears on her cheeks. She had been silently crying, I realized. Those weren't the type of tears you could fake. Maggie really was broken over the death of her granddaughter. It was almost enough for me to mark her name off the list of suspects.

"There's gotta be a reason someone did what they did," he said. I blinked at him. He was getting on the verge of the same thing that Derek and I had talked about. He had obviously been thinking about it, but I doubted that he was surmounting his own investigation. Derek nodded, acting as if he understood completely. Who knows, maybe he did.

Maggie used a small handkerchief with an _M_ monogrammed on the edges to dry her tears. It reminded me of the handkerchief Abigail had been holding. I wondered if they'd gotten them as gifts from someone. Maggie balled it up and shoved it up her sleeve. She stood up to get Ezekiel more tea, and when she came back, she pulled the handkerchief out again. I almost didn't think anything about it, until I realized that this time it had a _C_. It had to be Chelsea's.

"We'd like to go to the funeral." I blurted. Both Ezekiel and Maggie froze for a second. Even Derek looked at me a little incredulously. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting me to say that. "If there is one," I said, remembering the crude casket someone had built her. It was as far from an actual funeral service as it could get, I thought.

"We already had it," Ezekiel said. "The mortician in town owed me a favor." He explained. "We buried her in the family plot." His eyes looked a little glazed over when he said it.

"You have a family plot?" I asked. I didn't think that places like this had those. Weren't those supposed to be in fancy plantation houses? This wasn't a plantation house by far. I'd seen _Gone with the Wind_.

"Sure we do." Ezekiel replied. "Do you want me to show ya where it is? You can pay your respects, if ya want to."

Even if we didn't want to, there was no way to get out of the offer without seeming rude. Before Derek could even try, I said, "Yes, I would love to." I felt like I owed it to her, after making her climb out of her coffin before, and then holding her soul on earth against her will. She hadn't seemed angry by it, but probably wasn't a good experience.

"This way, then," Ezekiel said. He stood up and stepped into the backyard. I followed quickly, with Derek lingering behind. I could tell that he wasn't excited about me stepping into a cemetery, and neither was I. Last time I'd gone into a cemetery, I'd torn it apart and ruined a funeral. The number of ghosts that had crowded around me was unreal. But that had been a big cemetery, and they'd only flocked to me when I tried to pull one of them through. I hoped that the necklace my mother had given me would dim my necromancer light for just long enough.

Ezekiel didn't seem to think it was a bad idea to lead a necromancer to a possible army. Derek stayed right by my side, our fingers brushing every time we took a step. "It used to be just for the people that stayed here, but in my great-great grandfather's day." He said. "It was almost like a town, 'cept it didn't have any income. No stores, either. They had to go into Goldburg fer that." The more I listened to him talk, the more I liked his southern drawl. It was a little calming, if that made any sense. Warm, I guess. "But then people stopped stayin' here, so there's more of our family than anyone else."

We passed by Ezekiel's truck and went down a dirt path that bordered the woods. Eventually, there was a wooded area on either side. That didn't last for long, because then we were standing in the middle of a cemetery. My skin seemed to crackle with electricity at the prospect of so many bodies I could accidentally raise. I had to take a deep breath and mentally tell myself to calm down. Ezekiel didn't look bothered in the least as we passed the oldest headstones first. I could tell that they were slowing getting newer the further back we got. They probably had to keep expanding.

The cemetery was unlike any other cemetery I'd been in. There was something humbling about it. There weren't any giant crosses or stone angels looking down on the dearly departed. Instead, the markers were simplistic, with a line or two written underneath their names and the dates of their birth and death. The oldest ones were covered in dirt and grime, their age making the words hard to make out. There was a part of me that was separate from the part that wanted to turn tail and run that wanted more time to inspect the headstones. The place was creepy enough that it somehow felt right. I must've been going insane. The stress was getting to me.

"Back here's where Chelsea's at." Ezekiel said. He pointed to a marker. There was already a stone in place, though it was small. _Chelsea Ann Winnebaker_. It said. I looked at the dates. She'd only been sixteen years old. She would've been seventeen in a couple of months. Her face, dazed and confused, flashed in my mind. I pushed it away before I unconsciously started to raise bodies. "I'll give ya a moment." Ezekiel said. He lumbered off, heading towards the other side of the cemetery. By the way he put his hand in his pockets, I assumed that he was paying respects of his own.

I crouched next to Chelsea's tiny headstone. They'd gotten it out here fast, I realized. It usually took a long time. It could be because the town was small and they hadn't had much written on it besides her name and the dates of her birth and death. There was no design, no _loving daughter_ printed on the back like some of the others. It was just plain.

Derek leaned down next to me. "What are you trying to get at?" He asked. "In case you haven't noticed, we're in a cemetery."

"Thanks for that." I whispered back. "I've got it under control. As long as I don't try to summon, I should be okay. All that stuff only happened with Margaret when she pushed me into pulling someone through." I added so I didn't seem rude.

Derek sighed. We sat there silently, looking at the way the letters of Chelsea's name lined up. Finally, I rocked forward and balanced on my toes just for a moment. I let my fingers trace the _C_ in her name. "I'm going to find out who did this to you, Chelsea. I promise."

**I know it's a little short, but I think the next bit I have planned would do better in the next chapter, which I'm going to start to write as soon as this is posted. Once again, I'm so, so sorry for the incredible wait in this update. I am going to complete this, you have my promise on this one.**

**I didn't read over this before I posted because I'm too lazy to look over it. I hope any spelling/grammatical errors don't just ruin it for you. Hopefully if I can post the chapters ahead of time, I'll be able to proofread them before I put them up.**

**Thank you so much for reading this. Please give me a review in the box below. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Peace. (:**


	21. Chapter 21

**Inujuju712 – Oh, don't worry. You'll get more hints. If only you know where to find them. Muahaha.**

**emily – Thanks for jumping in this late in the show! Glad you like it. (: **

**Enecs – Ooh, that would be a nice twist. Unfortunately, that's not correct. But I like the way you think. Ha! (:**

**baby Cyclopes – Here it is!**

**The Darkest Powers series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

"Did you guys find anything out?" I asked as Tori and Simon came in together. Well, _together_ wasn't technically correct. They were obviously trying to beat the other in without looking like they were in the middle of an immature competition. I wasn't sure if they succeeded. Derek, who was sitting on the couch, snorted. I ripped open another frozen dinner and put it in the microwave, taking the warmed-up one out. I stirred it with a fork and motioned for Derek to the table to eat.

"Not much," Simon answered, running a hand over his limp blonde spikes. "The neighbors weren't really willing to talk. They seemed a little scared, from what I gathered." He said, slipping into a seat at the table. Derek collected his dinner and sat across from him.

"That's all?" He asked, stirring the food a little more. I tried to get it evenly lukewarm, but even then, it looked pretty gross. It was supposed to be lasagna, but it didn't look like any lasagna I'd had. Still, it was better than nothing. We didn't have any true groceries – only frozen meals and a bruised fruits we picked up for cheap.

"There are four other people, aside from us, John, and Abigail. Only two of them opened their doors, and they didn't want to tell me much of anything." He replied. "Sarah told me that Chelsea was around a lot. Apparently, she and Abigail lived out here, though Sarah wasn't sure what her powers were, if she had any. And Bruce told me that if I came around knocking on his door again, he'd put a bullet through my forehead. So yeah, that's all."

Tori shriveled her nose up at the food I put in front of Simon. "They're big boys, Chloe." She said sharply. "They can feed themselves."

"Leave her alone, Tori." Simon said, giving her a short glare. He turned to smile at me. "Thanks," he said. I just gave him a smile back and handed him a fork. I put a third frozen lasagna lump in the microwave and lifted up another, still in its box, to see if Tori wanted any. She shook her head, but I tossed her an apple from the bowl on the counter.

Tori caught it easily and peeled off the sticker. "I got a little bit from Abigail," she said. "She didn't tell me much about herself or Chelsea. She didn't mention any abilities, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have them." She bit into the apple and leaned against the table. "She did tell me, though, that she had the feeling that Chelsea was killed by someone she knew, I'm guessing someone around here. Apparently, the dead girl wanted to get out of the compound and find others 'like her,'" Tori said, using air quotes. "Some people hated her for it, because they were sure that she was going to lead Cabals back here." Tori relayed. "But that's the only stuff remotely useful."

Derek and I looked at each other. We'd talked about Chelsea's death being a result of someone trying to protect themselves. It looked like that was the most plausible reason. But that still left us with five suspects – all the neighbors, including John. I hoped that we could've cut down on the number of suspects, but in the end, they were all still dangerous.

Derek shifted a little in his seat. "Ezekiel and Maggie didn't have much to say about her. Abigail is Maggie's daughter. They only said that it was a shame that she'd been killed. Ezekiel said that she was curious and adventurous, and that he thinks it got her back in the end." He didn't tell them about the cemetery, but it wasn't really important. I'd only seen Chelsea's headstone.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"I talk to John," Derek said. We all stopped to look at him. Simon had his fork halfway to his mouth. As he sat there, the lasagna slid off and plopped back into the plastic bowl it came in. Derek shoveled another bite into his mouth, ignoring his brother.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said finally. And it wasn't. John was cleverer than we gave him credit for. Derek was practically a genius, but John had experience on his side. And, I realized, he had nothing to lose. He was alone, and didn't seem to care much for anything else here.

Derek glanced up at me. His eyes were burning, but not in the way of a Change, or even because of emotion. They looked darker. Suddenly, I lost my appetite. Derek didn't look at me like that often, and when he did, I was suddenly reminded of the fact that he was different. So many people had pointed it out to me, and I always told them that I understood, but I realized now that I didn't. For the first time, I realized how scary he could be. "It may not be _your_ idea of a good idea," he snapped, "but last time I told you something was a bad idea you didn't listen to me."

"Whoa," Tori said. "Unnecessary." She gave him a dark glare and bit into the apple.

Derek ignored her. "Sorry," he said softly, putting his hand on my knee under the table. I could see the regret in his eyes. But there was worry there, too. Next, he would be telling me that he was dangerous, and that maybe I should get away while I could. It was why he was so distant when we first got here, and if we weren't careful, he was going to do it again. "I'm just stressed. I'm positive that John knows that we're on to him, and he's either going to try to disappear or he's going to retaliate against us."

"Here we go again," Tori deadpanned. "Poor little Chloe certainly can't take care of herself. We need a big, gruesome wolf-boy to protect her." This time, I glared at Tori. Sometimes I couldn't tell if she was just making a dig at Derek because she knew he hated when she teased him about his emotions for me, or if she was trying to get at the both of us, implying that I needed Derek. I would be the first to admit that I needed Derek _sometimes_. I wasn't completely incompetent. "What?" She asked innocently.

"Stay out of it, Tori." Simon piped up, pushing the remainder of his dinner away from him. It looked like he ate as much of it as he could manage.

"Only if you do," Tori replied sweetly. She threw her half-eaten apple into the trashcan and stood up, one hundred percent of the haughty queen she thought she was at the Lyle House. I was beginning to think that she reverted back to her nasty side whenever she was stressed, like it was some sort of default. "I'm sick of this. Let's get out of here already."

Derek stabbed his fork into his plate. "We can't," I said. "I promised."

"Promised who?" Tori asked, turning sharply. Her fingertips weren't crackling with blue energy yet, but I felt like I could see an energy cloud around her.

"Chelsea," I replied. I didn't delve into the fact that we went to the family cemetery. Tori would just stare at me, because she'd been there last time I was in a cemetery and nearly made every corpse into one of my own personal soldiers. She probably wouldn't admit it, but I knew that she feared the fact that I reanimated the dead.

"She's dead, Chloe." Tori said. "What, do you think that you're going to solve every murder in the entire world?" Her voice was snide, but I could hear the worry underneath. As much as she probably would've hated to admit it, we were starting to learn about what made Tori who she was. The little tics and faces that we used to roll our eyes at were slowly starting to make sense. I realized, even in that moment of her messing with me, that I trusted Tori. She might not be the nicest person, but she would fight for me. Probably.

"Yes." I said meekly. It was the only thing I could think to say.

Tori snorted. "The girl's dead, just like Liz is. I didn't see you going full force to avenge Liz. And you actually talked to her when she was alive."

"Enough," Simon said, scooting back from his seat. I'd only seen Simon truly angry twice, the first time when he accused me of making up stories about Derek being violent, the second time when he realized that I loved someone else while we were on our ice cream date. Today marked the third time. Simon wasn't as scary as Derek, but he had a different kind of fire in his eyes.

"What are you going to do about it?" Tori hissed. "Use a knock-back spell?"

"Stop!" I cried out before they could really get at it. "Just, stop it, okay?" Tori and Simon both turned to look at me. "We're all stressed out, but we've got to figure this out. Any supernatural that walks through here is in danger. We'll figure it out, and we'll leave. We only have like, seven suspects." I exclaimed. I'd seen enough investigative shows to know that seven wasn't a bad number. It wasn't the best, but at least it was controlled.

Tori turned her nose up. "Fine. But I'm telling you, the sooner we get out of here, the better. I'm not going down with you guys." She headed to her room and slammed the door shut behind her with enough force that the cabinets in the kitchen shuddered.

Simon let out a breath that he'd obviously been holding. I knew that he liked to act like he was all macho, but we all knew that if it came to a magic fight between him and Tori, she'd have the upper hand. The experiment had worked on him, making it harder for him to use his abilities. They'd worked opposite on her, multiplying her powers. Tori could, without a doubt, kick Simon's butt. I didn't tell that to him though, since he'd stood up on my behalf.

I turned to thank him, but stopped when I saw Derek standing up. He came up to me, his hand wrapped around my upper arm, and pressed his lips to my temple, only for a second. "I'll be back. Don't wait up for me."

And then he was gone.

# # #

"Where do you think he went?" I asked Simon. We'd decided to work on our book while we had nothing else to do. Tori had only come out of her room to go to the bathroom, but other than that, she'd stayed locked away, completely silent. Derek had left hours ago. He told us not to wait up for him, but it was getting closer and closer to midnight. I didn't know where the day had gone; we'd spent the majority of it talking to Ezekiel and Maggie and trying to plan our next move without alerting Kit.

Simon shrugged. "Well, we know he went to go talk to John. I don't know what's taking him long, but there's probably a good reason behind it." He placed a colored pencil to the side and reached for the next one, eyeing it in contrast with a few others before placing it to the page. I stayed silent, sitting on the couch with a notepad and a pen, trying to write. I felt like there was a mental block. I just didn't have my heart in it.

When I didn't reply, Simon turned around to look at me. He'd taken up a nearly permanent residence at the coffee table. He sat on the ground and leaned against the couch, his back curved as he drew. At night, he climbed up onto the couch with a nest of blankets and pillows. The first few days, he tried to clean up the couch so we could sit on it, but he didn't bother anymore. We all just sat on it whenever we felt like it.

"He'll be fine," Simon said with the conviction that I wished I felt. "You know how he is. He goes off, because he's such a big bad wolf," he smiled at his own lame joke, "but he always comes back in the end. If there's anything that I'm sure of, I know he'll come back for you." His eyes looked a little downcast at that. Maybe he felt like he'd been pushed to the side, just for me. Maybe he felt like he didn't matter anymore, which, when it came to Derek, was as far from the truth as he could get.

"Did I ever tell you that he told me that he only brought me along because he needed a damsel in distress to get you to leave?" I said. Without waiting for him to answer, I said, "Because he did. He wanted you to get out of the Lyle House, but he thought he belonged there. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if he wished we were back there, taking those stupid pills and sitting through those therapy sessions." I hadn't realized it was true until I said it out loud. The majority of the time, I was confident with the fact that Derek was glad to be out of there, to be with me, and Simon, and his dad. Even Tori. But there was a small part of me that remembered that if he hadn't begun to Change that night, there was a possibility that Simon and I would've gotten out and left him there. I wouldn't have fallen in love with him, I realized. We wouldn't have done what we did. We might've been dead.

Simon shrugged. "We're his pack," he said simply. "And I don't mind being a member of it." He shot me a genuine smile. He had known all along what Derek was. The two of them were so close, I thought. Derek would do anything to keep Simon safe, and Simon would do anything to protect Derek.

"Me neither," I said softly. I cast a glance at Tori's door. Whether she liked it or not, she was a part of the pack, too. I figured she probably liked it enough, or else she would've been gone. She tried to leave me once, but didn't get far. She'd called the man she thought was her biological father to come get her, and he'd called her psycho witch mother. We only had each other.

Simon turned back to his sketchpad and continued to draw. I chewed on my thumbnail for a moment, then put my pen to the page and started to write.

# # #

When I opened my eyes, it was dark. I blinked, but it didn't go away. "Chloe," Derek said softly. I turned my face to the sound of his voice. His nose skimmed over my cheek. I sucked in a breath. I was suddenly aware of the pressure of his weight on the bed. He had to be leaning over me, I realized. "Chloe," he whispered a little more urgently.

"What?" I murmured. The longer I stared into the dark, the easier it was to see vague outlines. I blinked a few times. Now I could just barely make out the curve of his shoulders. "John knows. We've got to get out of here." Before I could complain, he said, "We're not going far. We're just going to go to one of the other cabins, the ones without our names on them. Come on." His hands were gentle but rough at the same time as he pulled on my hands.

If he hadn't woken me up in the middle of the night, I'd be running to gather our things. We needed all of our clothes, our food, and anything else that we needed. By the sound of it, we'd be holing up in there for at least a little while. We still needed to find things out, but if Derek felt like we weren't safe, it was time to move. Moving around was easier when we didn't have a house and instead were just sleeping on the streets or in rundown motels.

I shoved my feet into my shoes, and reached for my bag of clothes, thankful that I hadn't bothered to unpack and instead had been living out of my backpack. Derek slung it onto his shoulder before I could reach it. In the living room, Tori was balancing a bunch of frozen dinners in her hands and Simon was weighed down with a bunch of blankets and pillows.

"Simon and I can make a second trip," Derek said, his voice eerily low. I stepped forward and grabbed the rest of the food from the freezer. Derek turned all the lights off, and I had to blink to adjust to the sudden darkness. He opened the door, and we all stood there, leaning out over the threshold. I could tell that Derek was straining his ears to listen. After a few moments, he took a step down and quickly led us towards Maggie and Ezekiel's house, which was further away from John's cabin. The cabin we went to didn't have a nameplate on the door, so it wasn't locked. The door swung open, and Derek shuffled all of us inside.

He and Simon turned to get the rest of our things while Tori and I stocked the shelves of the freezer. I spread out some of the blankets and the pillows to make Simon a bed on the dusty old couch, and then went to what would become my bedroom. I tried to dust out the sheets and the mattress, and managed to clean up some of the room by time Simon and Derek got back.

Tori crossed her arms over her chest. She was still dressed in a too-large T-shirt and a tiny pair of cotton shorts, and she didn't look too pleased about us sneaking across the path, moving our things in the middle of the night. "Are one of you going to tell me what happened, or are you guys just going to stand there?"

Simon collapsed on the couch and tossed his hand dramatically over his eyes. He looked wiped out. Derek quickly turned the lock on the front door and doused the lights. "I went to talk to John. He's smart. I could tell that he thought we were up to something."

"We _are_ up to something." Tori intoned, rolling her eyes. "I was wondering how long it would take him to notice."

"That's not the point," Derek said gruffly. "I just mentioned Chelsea's death, and the weird fact that we were away from everyone else. John stopped talking almost immediately, and then he fed me some bald-faced lie, even though he knew I wasn't going to believe it. He knows we suspect he had something to do with Chelsea's murder. And he knew exactly where we all slept." He said. He hovered by the front windows, lifting up the edge of the blinds to peer out into the dark.

"If we know it's John, what are we doing hanging around here?" Tori leaned against the wall. For the first time, I noticed the dark circles under her eyes. Apparently, she hadn't been sleeping well lately. I didn't blame her. I didn't feel safe around here, knowing that someone was going around murdering people.

"We don't have proof," Simon piped up, "just some crackpot theories. Good crackpot theories, but theories nonetheless." He sat up a bit, leaning on his elbow. "So our next order of business is to find the proof. Then we can nail John with it, and leave Ezekiel or whoever to make him pay for his crimes."

Derek didn't say anything for a long moment. We all seemed to be waiting for his input. After all, he was the werewolf of the group, and he was the one that had been closest to John. Finally, he dropped the edge of the blinds and turned to look at the three of us, huddled near the couch. "I don't know," he mused, "but there is something off about John. He almost seemed to be gloating, like even if we could pin it on him the others wouldn't do anything. I don't like it."

"Unless he's a psychopath," I said, leaning on the back of the couch. "Maybe he gets off of killing girls. Like Teddy Bundy or something."

Derek shook his head. "There's more to it than that."

"So now what?" Tori asked, yawning. "Do we fake that we still live over there, just in case the big bad wolf has his eye on us?"

"Better yet, we should stay in here and not go out for anything." Derek replied. He flicked the corner of the blinds up again, simultaneously reaching out to check the lock for the door. It was still bolted into place, but that didn't stop him from checking every so often. "We'll just have to gather more information."

"I know it's important and all," Simon said sleepily, "but can it wait until morning? None of us are going to be any good if we don't get some sleep."

"Simon's right," I agreed. "We'll all think better when it's morning, after we've had some sleep. Besides, we're all a little stressed out from running around in the middle of the night."

Derek seemed to mull it over for a second, and then he gave a curt nod. Tori didn't say anything and just slipped into her bedroom, closing the door soundly behind her. Simon tugged one of the blankets over his head. I stood there awkwardly for a moment until Derek glanced back at me. "Go on, Chloe," he murmured, his voice just loud enough for me to hear.

I bit my lip and tried to give him a smile, but he didn't return it. It had been a while since I'd seen him _this_ wound up. Derek was always tense, but it was rare that he acted like a tyrant. I didn't say anything as I headed off to my bedroom, pausing to snap off the lights.

# # #

When I woke up, Derek was nowhere to be seen. I didn't even think he'd come into the room last night. Had he stayed by the window all night, peering into the darkness, looking for our own personal nightmare? I rubbed my bleary eyes and blinked a few times. Yawning, I stretched out my arms and reached for my backpack. Tori had grabbed the soap from our bathroom, and I intended to take a shower.

I stepped out into the living room. Simon was still sleeping, and Derek had passed out in the recliner, which he'd pulled over to face the window. I lingered there for a moment, watching him sleep. I had no idea how long he managed to stay up, but my guess was that he'd waited at least until the first few rays of light shone over the horizon. I expected nothing less from him, not when he was in protector mode.

I slipped into the bathroom and took a hot shower, then changed into my clean clothes. Ezekiel and Maggie had mentioned that they had a cabin up by the house with a few laundry machines for their guests. We all needed our clothes to be washed. I'd done enough laundry at the Lyle House when I was assigned to, so I wasn't too bothered at the idea of seeing someone else's skivvies. Besides, we were probably clear to walk around in the daytime, especially with Kit and the other adults well aware of our presence. Kit knew about John, too, since he'd helped us set up our dinner, where I tried to convince him that I was a clueless girl submersed into the supernatural world.

With a sigh, I peered out the front windows. If I told Kit where I was, we'd probably be safe. He could help me wash laundry, for all I cared. I just knew that while Derek wasn't wild about any of us going out in the public eye right now, there were things that had to be done. At least I wouldn't be alone if I enlisted the help of his father.

After I decided that it was all clear, I slowly undid the lock on the front door and twisted the knob, eyeing Derek the entire time. I wasn't sure what he would do if he saw me trying to leave. He wouldn't be happy, that was for sure. I bit my lip and slowly pulled the door open.

It didn't get far before Derek was suddenly there, his hand pushing on the door so hard he nearly slammed my fingers in the frame. I was shocked that it didn't wake up Simon. "I told you last night," he said gruffly. His eyes still looked a little out of it, sleep dazed. "We can't go outside."

"I was just going to get your father," I replied. "He has a right to know what we've uncovered. And we need to do our laundry." I added for good measure. That was my real reason for trying to venture out onto the path, but I'd rather him think that it was merely because I wanted to keep his dad in the loop.

I was sure he saw right through me. We'd discussed as a group how best to handle it, and Kit hadn't been in our plans for quite some time. "Okay," I admitted. "I just really think we need to do laundry. So come with me," I said.

"It's not safe," Derek replied.

"And what is? If we stay here, we'll be like sitting ducks. And you said so yourself, there's still information out there that we need to find."

"Fine," he conceded after a moment. He glanced over at his brother. I never realized what a hard sleeper Simon was before. "Grab the stuff." He commanded. I rolled my eyes at his tone but did what he said. I knew he didn't like what I was doing, and I knew that he wasn't happy that we were risking it all for laundry, especially when we'd gone weeks without a change in clothes. But he also knew that I was right, we couldn't just sit there, waiting for the worst to happen. We needed to uncover everything.

I gathered all the dirty clothes I could find and dropped them into a large, dusty hamper from the closet. All of our clothes together almost didn't fit. Derek reached out to grab the handles, since we both knew I wouldn't be able to lug it down the path by myself. Derek peered through the blinds again, and then opened the door and shuffled me out.

We only made it halfway down the path when I was suddenly aware of the fact that someone was watching. I paused, causing Derek to run into me. He was usually much more graceful than that. I turned to look at him, to tell him that something wasn't right, just in time to see John looming behind him. Before I could warn him, John wrapped an arm around Derek's throat. The two of them dropped to the ground as Derek tried to gain the upper hand. Just like I'd always feared, Derek and John had gotten into a fight, and I knew that Derek wouldn't be able to hold him off forever.

"Chloe!" Derek called out. I knew that he was going to tell me to run. I also knew that _he_ knew I wouldn't just leave him there to die. John was smart and strong and experienced, and we all knew how this little scuffle would turn out. I looked to my left and saw Kit's cabin. It was extremely early, so he may not even be up yet, but if I could go get him and then Tori and Simon, we'd at least have an army on our hands.

I didn't make it another step before something whacked me across the back of the head. For a moment, all I felt was a flash of pain, and then my vision tunneled down into black.

**Guys. Like, seriously guys. I think we're getting to the last few chapters. I know you're sitting there like, "Yeah, we knew all along that John was a jerk." But I don't think you're going to expect what's going to happen in the next chapter or two. Keep your fingers crossed for a quick update!**

**Please ignore any grammatical or spelling errors, since I'm not usually good about editing before uploading. I edited at least half of this, if it makes you feel any better. Please leave me a review in the box below (you guys know how much I love them.) Thanks for reading! Check back soon! Peace (:**


	22. Chapter 22

**Enecs – Oh, I love cliffhangers. Not when I'm reading them, of course, but when I'm writing them, cliffhangers are by far my best friends. (:**

**emily – Yes, he clearly has something devious in mind. But not all is as it appears to be….**

**k9lover47 – Ooh, nice guess. But alas, there is still more that you are (hopefully) unaware of. I like a good plot twist, don't you?**

**DragonHeart1499 – Lol, go for it! (:**

**Shiningheart of ThunderClan – Your gut just might be right. John's bad, yes, but perhaps he's not alone. Or maybe he is. You'll have to find out! **

**Thank all of you for your reviews! You guys are great!**

**The Darkest Powers Series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

I groaned, opening my eyes. Fear shot through me. It was pitch black. I tried to sit up, but my head felt heavy and my neck felt stiff. I felt like I was floundering around like a fish out of water, my arms and legs stretching out, searching for anything. I hoped for a flashlight or a weapon, but what I really wanted was to reach out and find Derek, even if he was hogtied next to me.

I laid there for a minute, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Slowly, shapes became a little clearer, though not by much. I'd seen John ambush Derek, but I hadn't managed to see who won the fight. I'd turned my back on them to get Simon, Tori, and Kit. I didn't even know if it was John that had taken me down, but that was my best bet. He had werewolf speed and strength, and I knew it hadn't been Derek that whacked me across the back of the head.

I strained my ears to listen and squinted into the darkness. I had no clue where I was, and I didn't know if there was someone nearby that could see or hear me. In plenty of the horror movies I'd seen, the psychopath stuffs the girl he's abducted into a tiny room that has cameras trained on every inch of the place. Even though this wasn't a horror movie (and I felt like it could be) I was paranoid that someone was aware of the fact that I'd woken up, and they were waiting for me to make the first move. Maybe they were even watching me, laughing with glee that I was trapped and lonely and confused. Maybe this was all a game to them.

Finally, I decided that I couldn't lie there anymore, and slowly sat up. My fingers ran across the floor, obviously stone, by the way my fingers smoothed over the tops and got caught in the ditches in between. The floor was covered in grainy dirt, but not feathery dust. Using my sleuthing skills, I could tell that the fact alone meant that this room was well-traveled, and probably was the first room in from the outside. My fingers ran over something that crackled when I touched it, and I yanked away, only to find out that it was a dry leaf.

Heart pounding in my chest, I shakily stood up. If there was dirt on this floor, it had to mean there was a door that led outside. I only needed to find it, even though it was dark and I couldn't see a thing. There was only the sound of my panicked breathing and my feet shuffling across the floor, because I was too afraid to pick them up and drop into a trap door or something. I knew it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but you could never be too careful, especially after waking up in a dark, unknown place after being brutally captured by the enemy.

I put my hands out in front of me and shuffled along until I found a wall. Almost immediately, I rammed into something hard. I ran my fingertips over it. It felt like a wooden dresser. I stepped around it. There were handles in the front. I pulled on one, and the drawer slid open smoothly. I stood there for a long moment. This was the ultimate test of trust, I thought, like those stupid games at Halloween, where you had to reach your hand into a bucket with unknown contents that were labeled as brains and eyeballs, but it was really just Jell-O and grapes.

But there was some hope that there would be a flashlight in there. I doubted it, but I didn't want to _not_ look and find out that there was a flashlight in there later. I slowly dipped my hand into the drawer. My fingers ran over some papers, and a cardboard box that I pulled away from at first. I slowly reached into the back corner and felt something solid. I jerked away again, but since it didn't bite me, I slowly reached back in. It felt like some sort of firebox. On the front was a lock with what felt like four number dials.

I closed the first drawer and reached for the second, preparing myself for another fear-inducing challenge of searching for anything useful, when I heard something. My entire body froze, muscles locked, as I waited. Sure enough, there it was again, a thump overhead. Was I in a house with two floors? Or was I trapped in a basement? I'd put money down on a basement. It felt dirty and stale enough, and it was just my luck to be trapped in one of the creepiest rooms in a house.

The thumps continued, and then got louder. A broken yell echoed from above, and I shrunk against the dresser. I felt like I should recognize the shout, but I couldn't, no matter how hard I searched my memory. At first, I was worried that it was Derek yelling out in pain, but it couldn't be. It sounded nothing like him. It sounded like there was a fight going on upstairs, like maybe someone was struggling. Had they captured Derek? Was he fighting back? There was a final thud, and then there was silence.

Above, someone was walking heavily, the sound making its way down to me. Whoever it was, they made their way from one side of the room to the other, stomping all the way. I heard the sound of a door slamming. I stood still, listening, waiting. There were a couple more sounds, and then there was the clank of a chain. It sounded like it was halfway across the room. My breath caught in my throat as the door opened.

Sunshine flooded into the room. Sure enough, I was in a basement. The floor was made of stone, just like I thought it would be, and the walls had pipes going across the top, bleeding onto the ceiling. Someone was coming down the stairs, their shadow growing on the opposite wall. Immediately, I rushed to the approximate area of where I'd been left and quickly laid down, ignoring the grit as I closed my eyes almost all the way, leaving them open just enough so I could see the stairs. I could even see my eyelashes. _Stay quiet_, I told myself. _Don't draw attention to yourself_. I tried to even out my breaths, and hoped that my heart would return to a normal beat.

I cut my eyes to the stairwell. I could just make out the corner of it, and the railing that was old and weathered. The shadow continued to come down, until I saw the heel of a boot. They were coming down backwards. I took in the blue jeans, the back of a button-up shirt, and the edge of a cowboy hat. John. I swallowed hard and hoped that he would trip and fall down the stairs hard enough to knock himself out for a little while. But he kept coming, and then I realized he was dragging someone.

Derek lay limp, John's hands holding him under his arms, his feet being dragged behind him. I sucked in a quick breath, then quickly let it go and pretended to be just fine, still unconscious. I didn't want John to know that I was already awake and planning my escape. Now, though, I had to stay here until he left. I'd have to wake up Derek, and together we could find our way out. There was no way I was leaving him here, and that was only if I could manage to get past John, which wasn't probable.

John grunted as he took the last step. Derek's sneakers dragged across the stone floor, eerily loud in the otherwise silent room. There was a thin rivulet of blood running from Derek's nose to his upper lip, and I could already see the bruise blooming on his cheek. John carefully lowered Derek to the ground a few feet away from me, as if he didn't want to injure him more than he already was. John stood over him for a minute, and then cursed under his breath. He turned towards me, and I had to fight the urge to stiffen. I tried to keep my breath calm, and hoped that John couldn't hear the way my heart rate started to quicken. I closed my eyes all the way, relying off the vibrations from his footsteps to tell me where he was. He stood by me for a second, and then he was gone, headed back towards the stairs. He took them quickly, and then shut the door behind him, taking the light with him.

Once again, the darkness was nearly paralyzing. I waited for a second, eyes open, as I listened to Derek breathe. He sounded okay for the most part. There was a little hitch – he probably took a heavy hit to the chest or back – but he would ultimately be fine. I hated to stay still when all I wanted to do was go to him, but I waited until I could at least kind of see before moving. Thanks to the brief few minutes of light, I was more aware of where things were, as well as the dimension of the room. I could still see Derek lying on his back if I closed my eyes. Quickly, I rolled to my hands and knees and crawled to him.

"Derek," I whispered. I touched his arm gently, and then leaned over him to place my hand on the cheek that hadn't been bruised. "Derek," I said a little more urgently. I tapped him lightly, and when he didn't even move, put a little more force behind it. I was scared that I'd end up slapping him too hard. I decided to give it one last try and drew back a little farther. Just as I was about to hit him, his hand shot out and caught my wrist. His fingers were tight, pinching the skin. Once he realized it was me, he let go.

"Chloe," he whispered, sounding a little out of it. My heart thumped wildly, and suddenly tears pricked my eyes.

"You're bleeding," I said, keeping my voice low. I was worried that John would return any minute. I hoped that I'd have enough warning, though. I heard him tie back the chains that he'd undone to get in, so I was pretty sure that we'd have some audible warning before he returned, but it still didn't stop the fear pounding through every inch of me.

"Then don't touch me," he replied, his voice almost a growl. I rocked back on my heels. Derek had told me once that blood was the way a person was changed to a werewolf, and he didn't want that for me. I remembered the way he'd carefully wiped the spray off my cheeks, his worry that he'd doomed me to be like him radiating from his look alone. It was one of the first times that I remembered him showing me the softer, more compassionate side of him without any of his tough-guy walls.

Derek moved, and I waited. I imagined him propped up on his elbow, taking stock of his injuries. "It was John." I said. The words just slipped out. I guess even though I thought he was a murderer for a long time, it still hadn't occurred to me that he actually _was_ the one behind Chelsea's death, if that made any sense. I guess deep down inside, I'd wanted to believe that it wasn't anybody's fault, that we were truly safe hidden out here. I'd theorized that we weren't, but that was a whole lot safer, in my opinion, than actually being in the presence of a killer.

"Yeah," Derek said. "But he's not alone. I don't know who's with him, but I don't think he's the mastermind." He paused, and his fingers lightly touched my arm. "Chloe, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I said. "I mean, my head hurts, but I'll be okay. It's you I'm more worried about. Did you get in a fight upstairs?"

"John choked me out in the path, and when I came around, I was tied up. I heard John talking to someone a few rooms away, but I had no idea who the other person was, and I didn't have a clue what they were saying." I heard him take a deep breath. "I tried to break away, I wanted to find you, but he managed to one up me again."

I could hear the disappointment in his voice. Derek had won when he got in a fight with Liam, but that was by chance. We all knew that against someone with more experience, Derek was unlikely to win. He just wasn't as practiced as other werewolves. I was confident that John was the only person in the entire compound that could beat Derek. Even so, I knew that he was bothered. All Derek wanted was to protect me, and to do that, he thought that he needed to be able to win every fight that he faced.

"We'll find a way out. The door's over there," I motioned. I knew he probably couldn't really see me, but his eyesight was better than mine. Maybe he could at least see the shadow. "I think there are chains, though. How are we going to get out? Do you think Simon and Tori are going to come find us?"

"If they figure out that we're not off doing something stupid." Derek replied shortly. He sounded angry, but I knew that he wasn't angry at me. A lot of the time, he seemed to yell at me even though he was angrier with himself than anyone else. I was kind of used to it by now, even though he still managed to scare me a little when the veins on his neck started to pop out. "I should've told you no, Chloe. I should've said to forget about the stupid laundry."

"Were you just planning on hiding out in there?" I asked him. I knew he was scared, he would just never admit to it. Derek felt like it was his job to protect me and any other member of his pack, and I knew that he'd do anything to keep us safe. Derek was bound to blame himself if anything went wrong, even if it wasn't his fault. Sometimes his need to protect overlooked his logic.

"Until I could think of something better, yes," he answered. I heard him standing up, felt the pull of his fingers as I did the same. He walked a little jerkily to the stairs. I almost tripped over the bottom one. He kept me on my feet, and we made our way up the steps. I ran my fingers over the door, searching for the knob. Finally I found it, and gave it a quick turn. It was locked from the outside. Derek pulled me back and rammed his shoulder into it. It shook a little, but didn't give. He did it a few more times, but it was pretty clear that somehow, John had figured out a way to werewolf-proof the door.

Derek leaned against the wall. I could hear his breaths coming in a little raggedly. I was really starting to worry that he'd done something to his chest and hadn't told me. He probably didn't want me to worry, but I would anyway. "Let me catch my breath, and I'll try again."

"You're hurt, aren't you?" I asked. When he didn't answer, I sighed angrily. "Stop trying to be untouchable. It's okay if you're hurt. John's more experienced than you are. And he's the one who killed Chelsea." I said, because now I had no doubt at all. John was behind Chelsea's death. But something still nagged at the back of my mind. Derek had said that John had gone off to talk to someone. Was the mystery person in on Chelsea's death, or just in on the fact that John had captured Derek and me?

"I'm fine," he said sharply.

I reached out, my fingers hitting his stomach. I lightly brushed my hands over his chest. Derek and I were close, but I'd never really touched him before, if that made any sense. We'd kissed, and we'd hugged, and he'd carried me before, but there was just something about the way I could feel him but not see him that was unique. I felt like I'd touched him more when he was in wolf form than I did when he was in human form. "Derek," I whispered. My nose touched his jaw as I stood up on my toes to slide my arms around his neck. "We need to sit down, rest, and think of something. Can we do that?"

Derek didn't say anything, just grunted in response. He removed my hands from around his neck, not in a cold way, but in a way that said there was something more important that we could be doing, and led the way down the stairs. We sat against the wall by the door. He leaned his head back against the wall; I could hear the thump of his skull against the stone.

"We'll find a way. I promise."

# # #

It felt like hours, but I couldn't be sure how much time had really passed. Derek and I had started talking about how to escape, and what we would do when we did, but before long, I fell asleep with my head on his shoulder. I had no clue how long I'd slept, or why he hadn't bothered to wake me up.

Because he definitely hadn't been the one to wake me up. I could hear the chains on the door, and the knob rattling as someone tried to fit the key into the lock. Derek was already on guard, his body stiff as he grabbed a hold of my hand and drew me up so that we were both standing, facing off with the door. I didn't know if he planned to charge up the stairs and bust our way out, or if he was just going to stand there and see what happened.

I prepared myself to run right when the door opened. John was silhouetted by the sun, not as bright as it had been before, but bright enough that I was momentarily blinded. I shot a glance over to Derek. The blood dripping from his nose had dried, leaving a crusty crimson line across his skin, and his cheek had purpled. Other than that, he looked fine from what I could see. He glanced at me, his eyes taking in my unscathed face and my matted nest of hair. Then we both turned our attention to John.

He came down the steps, his boots obnoxiously loud against the wooden steps. "Look at the two of you, standing up and ready to fight," he said. His voice didn't have that smooth quality it did when he came to Kit's for dinner. Any attempt to appear innocent was gone. His eyes roved over me for just a moment before settling in on Derek. "I told you to stay away, boy. I told you to just forget about it, turn around and run with your tail between your legs. If you had, you'd've been fine." He shook his head. "But you weren't going to listen to me, were ya? And now look what trouble you've gotten yourself in."

"You're the one that attacked us," I said without thinking. Derek reached over and took my hand in his, giving me a quick squeeze. He wanted me to shut up, so John's attention wouldn't be on me. It was probably wise, but I just couldn't keep myself from saying, "And if you hadn't killed Chelsea, we would've been long gone."

John's eyes narrowed in on me. "Girly, I told your boyfriend here to get up and leave while he could. I told _you_ to take care of yourself. But you had to go acting stupid, just to prove something." He shook his head again, as if he was disappointed in both me and Derek. I didn't think he had the right to be annoyed with us. In fact, it was the other way around. We had reason to be mad at him. He had tackled Derek and hit me over the head, and he hadn't denied killing Chelsea. "You've brought this on yourself." He warned.

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked. He narrowed his eyes at John. Suddenly, he leaned back and looked a little awed. I hadn't seen that expression cross his face very often. "Wait. You're not the mastermind, are you? You're a lackey."

John looked up sharply, his eyes glowing the way Derek's did when he was closer to the wolf. He snarled at us, but didn't take a step forward. "You wouldn't understand. You're just a stupid pup." He growled. His entire body seemed to shake, and I was suddenly worried that John was going to shift. Derek had changed forms whenever he got extremely stressed. Maybe we'd pushed John to the precipice, and he was trying his best not to fall off.

"Who is it then?" Derek yelled. I hadn't expected his voice to be so loud. I jumped, shrinking away for just a moment. "_Who_ _ordered you to do this_?"

"Me, of course," said a familiar voice. I looked up. My mind scattered, and my breath locked up in my chest. I would've never, in a million years, thought that I would see the person standing at the top of the stairs. In one quick second, I realized that Derek and I were wrong. The true mastermind had never truly been a suspect. And because we hadn't covered our bases, we were more unprepared than ever.

**Another cliffhanger! Sorry! I just love them. This chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I think this next chapter might be the last one, and I want you guys to squirm while you wait. Muahaha!**

**Anyway. Sorry about any spelling and/or grammatical errors. I did a quick edit, but I may not have caught everything. I'm eager to get it out to you guys for reviews.**

**On that note, please review. Thanks so much for reading! Check back soon for the next chapter! Peace (:**


	23. Chapter 23

**fireicegirl16 – Nice guess, but not quite right. However, you were right about it being someone they trusted.**

**kitkat443 – Nope, not Aunt Lauren. Honestly, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind, but it would've made for an amazing twist. Nice guess, though!**

**Enecs – That is quite an impressive list. Like I told kitkat443, it's not Aunt Lauren, though I will agree with you that she is totally cray-cray. (:**

**Shiningheart of ThunderClan – That is some nice observation going on. I'm impressed. You seem a little Sherlock-y all of a sudden. Anyway, Maggie is a strong guess, but you're not completely right. (:**

**Lady Eye – But alas, every story must end. I have the feeling that this might be the last chapter, but if I feel like there's more that I need to share, it might end up being an epilogue.**

**The Darkest Powers series belongs to Kelley Armstrong.**

I felt so stupid. I felt like I should've seen it. But I was stupid, like John said, and I'd let pity get in the way of seeing what I should've before. I hadn't even suspected him, because he was just an aging man, stuck in the middle of nowhere. He'd seemed sad about Chelsea's death. I never would've imagined that he had planned to kill her.

Ezekiel stood at the top of the stairs, just behind John. He was shorter and pudgier and older than the werewolf, but he seemed proud of himself. He didn't seem to think that John would harm him in the least, though I knew that if he really wanted to, the older werewolf could snap Ezekiel's neck within seconds. But clearly, John was either biding his time or didn't plan to do it at all.

"Why?" I whispered. Derek edged in front of me, but I was still able to see around him. Ezekiel looked down at me, and the kind eyes I was used to seeing were replaced with hard chips of ice. Clearly, Ezekiel was the best actor out of all of us. It was just another reason that I should've seen it. I was practically trained to see an actor a million miles away and I'd still failed.

Ezekiel stepped around John and made his way down the steps. "Why?" He echoed. His usually kind face screwed up angrily. "Why _not_? Chelsea was a brat, Abigail's mistake." He hissed. _Even Davidoff hadn't been this cruel_, I thought, because Ezekiel didn't care in the least that he was killing a member of his family. Davidoff was a twisted murderer, too, but he was a scientist at heart, who had planned on creating a better way for supernaturals to live. He strayed off the path on the way, but at least he hadn't started out as a psycho.

"But Abigail's family," I said. I couldn't imagine what I would feel if my dad tried to kill me. Even if I told him that I was a necromancer who had an unbridled ability to call forth the dead, he wouldn't have tried to end my life. He might've tried to stick me into the loony bin, or another group home like the Lyle House, but he wouldn't have ordered me killed. I couldn't even begin to fathom the reason behind it. Family was family, and I was all too aware of the pain that came from being separated from it, even if it wasn't just peachy to begin with.

Ezekiel smiled at me, but it wasn't warm. It was cold, his eyes hard. Even his teeth seemed sharper and more menacing, for some reason. "I'm a sorcerer," he told me. "Did I ever tell your group that? I'm sure Kit knows. After all, us sorcerers have to stick together." The way he said it made me shiver. He was so detached. "My father was a sorcerer, and my mother was a human. She had no idea what my father was, or that I'd taken after him, which was fine with us. We always imagined that she was just your average woman, a little clueless an' eager to please. But she found another man, a human man, who she thought she loved. When Maggie was born, she tried to convince my father that she was his, but he didn't believe it. Maggie was the first mistake in my family. She had Abigail, an' Abigail had Chelsea, an' all three of them are pure idiots."

I couldn't hold in the gasp. That was the last thing I expected from him. He had always been so quick to introduce Maggie as his sister. Though, I remembered, he hadn't laid any claim to Abigail or Chelsea when we first met, or even when I accidentally raised her corpse. And he'd never told us that he was a sorcerer, never offered to help Simon learn spells, and had never told us that Maggie, Abigail, and Chelsea were completely human.

In my mind, I rationalized the idea. By the sound of it, Maggie had grown up in a household with a brother and a father that thought she was human scum. I wasn't sure if it was really that bad, but it was what Ezekiel was implying. If he treated them the same way he talked about them, I could see why they'd feel like they were lower than the supernaturals surrounding them. Chelsea had been a teenage girl, and girls our age tend to overreact and rebel against everything we've been told. If Chelsea had been told that she was useless, but she had to keep this compound of supernatural freaks a secret, I could imagine her spouting that she was going to get out, and that she was going to run away. She might've even yelled that she was going to out them while in a fit of rage.

Chelsea's humanity had sealed her fate, I realized, and that made me sick. I had no idea that I was destined to be a necromancer, and when I first discovered my powers, I'd do anything to get rid of them. I even took the pills that the Lyle House nurses had prescribed to me, because I wanted them to go away. That might've only lasted for a few days, but I _did_ have a moment where I wanted to be normal. I wanted to be human. What was so wrong with that?

"So you killed her," Derek said. His voice was monotonous and heavy, but I could tell that he was just floored. Derek had always known what he was, and I knew that sometimes, he wished that he could just be normal. I imagined that there had been plenty of days where he'd wanted to trade in his super senses for a shot at a normal life, where he didn't have to run, where he could make friends and play sports and not worry about losing his temper and doing some irreversible damage on someone else.

"_I_ didn't kill her." Ezekiel said. He smiled coldly. "I just mentioned ta John here that Chelsea intended to leave here and tell everyone about where we were. It wouldn't have taken long for the Pack to find out that we had him holed up here, an' they might've come for him." Ezekiel leaned forward, like he was going to tell us some dark, dirty secret. "John don't have a real clean track record, if ya know what I mean." He leaned back, looking smug. "An' so I told John, I said, 'John, she'll kill us all.'"

John stood grim-faced behind Ezekiel. For the first time, I saw remorse on his face. Maybe he truly felt sorry for what he did. Maybe he hadn't wanted to kill Chelsea, but Ezekiel had goaded him into it. Maybe Ezekiel had told him that if John didn't act when he had the chance, there would be a bounty on his head. It sure seemed like Ezekiel, a man that I had trusted, was a criminal mastermind. I could tell just by looking at him that he didn't have a single guilty thought about killing his niece.

"I just… I don't understand. Why did you have to _kill_ her?" I was still trying to wrap my brain around it. It couldn't have simply been because she wanted to leave the compound, could it? I hadn't known Chelsea before she died, but I had the feeling that she wasn't what Ezekiel had made her out to be. He painted her as a girl that had every intention of causing harm to the people that lived here by telling the world about them. But that didn't make much sense, because the world would've just thought that she was insane, and she probably would've ended up in a group home like I did.

"You sure are dense, aren't ya?" He asked. "No matter. You Yankees don't get what it means to live down here in the south." I nearly blanched. Now he was blaming his _state_? "Down here, sweetheart, it's all about survival. If ya can't survive, ya don't deserve to live." Ezekiel stepped farther into the basement. Derek stepped closer to me, pushing me away from Ezekiel as he passed. He headed to a dresser than I hadn't gotten around to searching and pulled open the top drawer. He pulled out a gun. I bit my lip and tightened my fingers in Derek's shirt.

Ezekiel cleared his throat. "I already told ya that my great-great-great granddaddy built this place as a haven for us supernaturals. It has been a safe place for generations, and I wasn't goin' to let a stupid human ruin it for all of us. I told ya that Chelsea was a mistake. And you know what we do with mistakes?" He didn't even give me a chance to open my mouth before he glanced at me and said, "We erase them."

Gooseflesh broke out over my skin. The chill sunk through the air, and I had the urge to look around and see if there was a ghost watching. In all reality, it was probably just Ezekiel being crazy and cruel, but I was a necromancer, and a chill was not something that I could just ignore.

"What about Maggie?" I blurted. "And what about Abigail? What did they think about this? Do they even _know_?" How awful, I thought, that Abigail had no idea her uncle hated her and her daughter so much that he had practically made an order to have her killed.

"Of course," he answered so quickly that I almost thought I missed it. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. Derek reached back and took a hold of my hand, squeezing it lightly. I glanced over at John. Maybe we could make a break for it, climb up the stairs and lock it behind us. Then we could go for help. Sure, Ezekiel had a gun, but he was also halfway across the room. It was John I was worried about. If we made a break for the stairs, he would definitely be able to stop us. He might even hold us still so Ezekiel could shoot more efficiently, or maybe he would just take care of us himself.

I swallowed. Derek and I had gotten out of some pretty nasty situations in the past, but I figured that my luck would have to run out eventually. No matter how much of a planner Derek or I tended to be, there would eventually come a moment where we would fail, and we would suffer for it. My stomach tightened and my heart beat wildly in my chest. If my life was about to end, I decided, I wanted to go down fighting.

I closed my eyes and buried my face in the back of Derek's shirt. To his credit, he didn't pull away from me. Instead, he reached behind the two of us and pulled me closer, to the point where my body was almost completely pressed against his. I tried to ignore the fact that we could very nearly be as close as we'd ever been, and instead pulled up a mental image of Liz's face. Blonde hair, Minnie Mouse nightdress, crazy, ridiculous socks. _Liz_, I called out mentally. _Liz, please come back. We need you_. Derek and the others had warned me against summoning, but I was a necromancer, and calling the dead for assistance was the best way for me to fight.

"They had to know," Ezekiel continued, unaware of the fact that I was trying to use my power to bring a telekinetic half-demon ghost to help me get away from him, "'cause I wasn't about to let Maggie or Abigail beg for a full police investigation. They know that we can't bring police snooping around here. Word would get out in town that there'd been a murder out here, and those stupid town kids would come all the way out here hopin' to see a ghost. Couldn't have that. So I just told them that it was somethin' that had to be done. They wouldn't fight me. They know that fightin' me would end in their own deaths."

I tried to ignore him and continue the chant in my head. I needed Liz. I needed her to whack John or Ezekiel with a pipe. I needed to find Simon and Tori and Kit and get back up. I needed to get Derek and me out of here alive. I wasn't sure if my concentration was working, and I was a little worried to rev it up in case it brought in a whole bunch of zombie squirrels or something worse, like the entire contents of the creepy cemetery far behind Ezekiel's house.

Ezekiel's house. That's where we _had_ to be. It was the only building on the property big enough to constitute a basement this large. We weren't as far as I'd originally thought we were. Hope bloomed in my chest, and I only hoped that it would last. "Derek," I murmured just over his shoulder. I was confident that he would hear me, but I was worried that John would, too. I prayed that our enemy wouldn't as I continued to whisper in Derek's ear. "We're in Ezekiel's house. We have to be." He nodded almost imperceptibly. His gaze shifted to John, who was watching the two of us.

I looked back at Ezekiel. It seemed like we had a chance if we kept him talking, like one of those TV criminals that only want to boast about what they've done. If we made him talk long enough, maybe someone would come to rescue us. "And they just let you?" I asked.

Ezekiel reached into the drawer and came back with a cardboard box of bullets. Tears of fear and frustration started to rise in my eyes. I didn't want to cry in front of Ezekiel, in case he saw that as some sort of victory, but I didn't want to draw attention to myself by wiping them away, either. I blinked rapidly, trying to get them to go away, and leaned into Derek to protect me. His entire body was tense and rigid. His fingers were tight around my wrist, not in a way that was painful, but in a way that said he needed me as close to him as possible, and he wasn't planning on letting go.

"They had to. That's the beauty of it all." Ezekiel answered. "My father passed the compound on to me, and I was to pass it on to my son. But he and my wife died in a car accident nearly twenty years ago. With no heirs of my own, it would've had to be passed on to Abigail, and Abigail would've given it to Chelsea in due time. That girl was useless, and she would've ran this place into the ground. With Chelsea removed from the equation, there was a chance for survival for the rest of us."

I thought back to Abigail's tear-stained face. She was being honest, I realized, and so was Maggie when I'd seen her cry, but they'd known all along who had killed Chelsea, and they hadn't done anything to stop it or avenge it. I didn't understand why they were so willing to accept it. Even if this place was as backwoods as it seemed, which I had a feeling it _wasn't_, it shouldn't have been acceptable. I glanced at John again. His eyes were blank, and his body was relaxed. If we made a mad dash for it now, we might've made it. I took a step towards him, but John stiffened the moment he saw me move.

_Okay then, that won't work_, I thought. So where did we go from there? If it did come down to a fight, Derek would absolutely have to take John, even though John had already won twice before. And that would leave me to face off with Ezekiel, but he had a gun, and his abilities could more easily win a fight. Unless, of course, I had a zombie army that was slowly making its way to me. But I couldn't know that for sure, and I wasn't willing to risk it.

I realized that Ezekiel was still speaking, but it sounded like he was just talking circles around himself, telling me repeatedly that it was the way of life, that everything had to die eventually, and he shouldn't be so attacked for helping it speed along. I zoned him out and tried to focus on John. For once, I wanted to meet his eyes. I wanted him to look at me directly. Maybe, if he felt sorry about killing Chelsea when she probably would've been no real harm, he would help us, or at least pretend to look the other way while we escaped.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pipe move across the wall. I wasn't sure at first, because the corners of the room were still dark where the light hadn't managed to touch it. I squinted into the darkness. Sure enough, there it was again, the slight movement. It didn't make a sound, like it had been floating instead of being dragged. It moved a little closer, and then I was able to see who was holding it. I let out a sigh of relief, which Derek didn't miss. It was just my luck that my only ghostly friend was a telekinetic half-demon in life. In death, she was like an invisible warrior.

Liz drifted slowly down the wall, holding the pipe about an inch off the ground behind her. There was a determined look on her face as she approached John. I tried not to watch too closely, unless someone caught me staring and put two and two together. But I didn't manage to keep my gaze from her before long. "Derek," I whispered in his ear. I stood on my tiptoes, so my lips were practically touching his ear. "The wall." He glanced back at me, and then followed my gaze to where the pipe was moving. Immediately, he looked away. His entire body was still tense, but this time it wasn't from panic. He was ready to fight.

I settled into a stance that Derek and Simon had taught me – feet shoulder-width apart, fists loose but ready to tighten and punch on a moment's notice. They hadn't taught me much, and Derek kept telling me that if I saw the chance to run, I should take it, but he'd taught me a little about protecting myself. Liz and I made eye contact, and then she lifted the pipe and brought it down towards John in one quick movement. It would've been a clean hit if John hadn't moved at the last second. The pipe missed hitting him on the head and instead came down on his shoulder. He yelled out, dropping to his knees. Ezekiel turned and aimed the gun right at me. Derek jumped into action.

For a moment, everything was in slow motion. John was trying to stand up, his hand resting on top of the shoulder Liz had bashed him. Liz was trying to hit him again, this time horizontally like she was holding a baseball bat. John just barely ducked it, and she tried to whack him on the backswing. Ezekiel was aiming his gun right at me, the long barrel shining black and extremely cold. Derek stepped in front of me, and the fear that he was going to get shot nearly tore me down right there. I leapt towards the stairs, because if there was anything I would be able to do, it was get help.

I dodged John and ran up the stairs. The basement door was by the stairs coming down from the back porch. I finally made my way up and broke left, trying to get around the house. I barely reached the back steps to the house when the door opened and Maggie stepped out, carrying a glass of sweet tea. The shock on her face was clear; she hadn't been expecting to see me running across the backyard. I didn't know if that meant that she didn't know Ezekiel had captured me, or if she just hadn't thought that I would escape. She dropped her glass of sweet tea. The sound of the glass shattering was louder than ever in my panic.

I made it to the corner of the house before someone grabbed a hold of me and tackled me to the ground. I struggled to get away, flinging my elbows and my knees around, hoping that they would connect with something just long enough for me to break free. I just barely managed to see John's face. I couldn't help it; I let out a scream, one that was so loud I thought I'd broken my own eardrums. I whimpered, trying to get away, but I knew that next to his superior strength, I wouldn't get anywhere. That didn't keep me from struggling though, and at one point, I managed to hit him in the face with my elbow. It probably wouldn't have done much, but it was _something_.

A shadow crossed over the two of us, and John was pulled off of me. Derek loomed above me, and I instinctively reached up to him, like a small child. He grabbed a hold of my hands and hauled me to my feet. He pushed me forward, and we both took off running. We managed to get onto the path, and we took off down the road. Derek was shortening his stride so he wasn't far from me, and he was trying to stay behind me. We heard the sound of Ezekiel and John on the path, and Derek burst forward. He picked me up effortlessly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hoped that he wouldn't trip and drop me.

In the distance, I could see doors opening. They'd probably heard my scream. Kit stepped out onto the path. A little farther down was the cabin that we'd decided to secretly inhabit. I could see the door swing open and Simon step out, closely followed by Tori. A third cabin door opened. Abigail stood on the threshold, griping her embroidered handkerchief. Simon was already running towards us, Tori following close behind. I took the chance to look over Derek's shoulder.

Ezekiel was standing at the end of the path, closer than I thought he had been. He had the rifle raised, his eye to the scope attached on the top. "Derek!" I screamed, because I knew that with one shot, Ezekiel could kill us both. "Duck!" My words were torn away in the fray of it all. Ezekiel stood there for a moment longer, and I wanted to just close my eyes. But I didn't.

John leapt forward all of a sudden, his hand going around the barrel of the rifle. He yanked it down at the same time Ezekiel pulled the trigger. The crack was loud enough that jerked away, trying to bury myself closer to Derek. His grip on me tightened. We made it a few more feet before Derek's entire body jerked. I screamed in terror. He stumbled for a moment, but kept running until we passed Simon, Tori, and Kit. He stopped, breathing heavily, and set me carefully down on my feet.

I turned to look at John and Ezekiel. I was so confused; John had been the one that had killed Chelsea, but he was also the one who diverted Ezekiel's bullet. It would've no doubt hit one of us if he hadn't intervened. At the end of the path, John was standing with Ezekiel's rifle pointed to the ground, the mastermind behind the entire murder was lying on the dirt, and he wasn't moving.

"He's dead." John called out. He looked down at the rifle and tossed it to the side. "I didn't mean to hit him that hard." He added. He sounded sad, and cold. I stepped forward, and to my surprise, Derek didn't try to stop me. I lingered by Simon. We were at least fifteen yards away from each other.

"Why'd you stop him?" I called out, keeping a hand on Simon's shoulder. "Why bother, when you killed Chelsea?"

"Ezekiel forced my hand when it came to Chelsea. I wasn't about to let him kill a wolf or his mate." He answered. "The mate comes first, then the pack, and then everyone else. I chose to do what I did. Now I suggest you get out of here while you can." He said. He kicked the rifle to the side and disappeared into the shadows. I stood there for a moment longer, feeling like there was a hard ball sitting somewhere in my stomach. John had saved us, but he'd also killed Chelsea. What were we going to do with him now?

I glanced behind me to ask Derek, but before I could even get a few words out, a terrified scream broke out of my mouth. My throat was already starting to get sore, but I couldn't help it. I was so sure that John had protected us from being hit by one of Ezekiel's bullets when in fact, he hadn't. Derek leaned against the side of a cabin, his eyelids drooping closed. His hand was on his shoulder, and when he moved it, his fingers were slicked with blood.

"Derek!" I yelled as I swooped beside him. Blood had never really made me feel sick, but I hadn't really _wanted_ to touch it. Still, I didn't hesitate to press my hands to the wound on his shoulder, knowing that even if there was a bullet embedded in there, we had to stop the bleeding or else he would die. Fear was in every ounce of blood my heart pumped as the tears I'd been holding back came to my eyes. "You'll be okay," I forced out. Derek's bloodied hand reached out to touch my wrist, leaving a crimson handprint. "Stay with me, okay? Please, Derek!" I called out. He must've not heard me, because his eyes closed.

# # #

I paced back and forth in the living room of Kit's cabin. John had disappeared, but Abigail and Maggie had come over to lend their help. I had tried to get rid of them at first, because the two of them had basically let Chelsea die without trying to stop Ezekiel. But Maggie had medical training from her days as a nurse, and Abigail was too broken up to do anything but follow her mother everywhere. In the whole mess of things, while Simon and Kit had tried to drag Derek into a cabin, I'd turned around and yelled at the two of them. Abigail had started crying again, which made me feel guilty, but Maggie had just given me a cool look and said, "If we wanted our lives, we didn't have a choice. He's gone now, and a part of me only wishes that it would've happened sooner."

After that, I let them in the cabin. Maggie had taken a pair small tongs from her house, which she'd heated over a flame to disinfect. After they'd cooled down, she pried apart the bloodied edges of Derek's skin. The bullet had gone into his back, close to his shoulder. Luckily, Maggie said, it was a wild shot and hadn't really hit anything important. The muscle would have to heal, and that might take a while, but none of his bones had been broken and none of his arteries had been cut. It took nearly twenty minutes, but Maggie finally found the bullet and pulled it out, dropping it into a glass half-filled with water. She then brought out a sewing needle and a string. She sewed his skin back together, and while they were quick and not made with official equipment, the sutures were pretty even. Maggie took some gauze from a first aid kit and taped it over his back. She left instructions for him to take an aspirin when he woke up, then stood up to leave.

I'd walked Maggie and Abigail to the door. Abigail had stepped out onto the path, but Maggie had lingered over the threshold. She turned to look at me, and rested a gentle hand on my shoulder. I fought the urge to shrug her off. I didn't trust her, but she _had_ taken care of Derek. "My brother was cold-hearted. He took after his father. I always knew that I was the daughter of a different man, so I took the punishments Ezekiel's father put onto me, and forgave Ezekiel for growing up in his shadow. Abigail and I didn't know that he plotted Chelsea's death until after she was gone, and what was I going to do then?" Her voice wavered as tears came to her eyes. "A part of me hates John for what he did, but I know it was all to keep us safe. I'm sure he'll be gone from here soon enough, and without Ezekiel to bare down on all of us, we'll prosper. You and your friends should be going as soon as your werewolf is prepared to travel, for your safety. But we're always here, if you happen to need a place to stay."

I looked her right in the eyes, and she stared back at me. I could see the tears, and I knew that she was telling the truth. And so I just nodded, gave her a low thank you, and promised that we'd be out of there as soon as possible.

Now, I was pacing back and forth. Derek was lying face down in Kit's bed. We'd left him in there to get some rest. Maggie said he must've blacked out from a combination of pain and blood loss. Since we didn't have any blood transfusion equipment, we'd just have to hope that he could wake up soon so we could feed him.

"Are you okay?" Liz asked. She'd watched Maggie silently the entire time. I hadn't even had a chance to thank her yet for stepping in to help us.

"I'm fine," I answered. The others looked up at the sound of my voice, but they didn't question my talking out loud anymore. I'd already told them that Liz had been the diversion we needed to get out of the basement. Tori had shown some excitement at the arrival of her dead best friend, but she hadn't really said that much. She was as solemn as the rest of us. I knew that even though she and Derek got into fights more often than not, Tori didn't want him to die. As much as they got on each other's nerves, they were part of the same family now. Liz offered me a tiny smile. "Thank you," I told her as sincerely as I could. "if you hadn't showed up, we probably wouldn't have made it out of the basement."

Liz shrugged. "What else is a ghost to do?" Her smile was bright, but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wished she was alive with the rest of us, sitting on the couch, wedged in between Tori and Simon. And even though she wasn't, she was still a friend to me. "Anyway, I came because I heard you calling. You're going to move soon, right?"

"That's the plan." I answered. "I have the feeling that we'll be running for a long time." Kit looked up at that, but he didn't say anything else. Instead, he stood up and went to check up on Derek for the seventeenth time since Maggie left. "Where will you go?"

"Oh, I'll roam." Liz answered. "At first, I was looking around, trying to see if anyone had figured out how to get out of limbo. But now… well, I guess I'm stuck here for a while, so I might as well travel, right? I always wanted to travel when I was younger, but we never had any time. I'm going to go see all the things that I wished I could've. I have all the time in the world now." She smiled sadly. "But if you ever need me again, you call. I'll come running. I promise."

"I owe you so much." I told her.

"That's what friends are for. Tell Tori by for me, okay? I don't know when I'll be seeing you again. And as much as I love to see you guys, let's just say that you always seem to be getting into trouble so… hopefully it's later than sooner."

I couldn't help but laugh. "I promise. Goodbye, Liz. And good luck." She gave me a salute with two fingers, and then she was gone. I stood there for a moment longer, waiting for something, I don't know what.

"Chloe," Kit said suddenly. I looked over at him. He was standing in the doorway to Derek's room. "He's awake, and he's asking for you."

I practically tripped over myself to get to the room. Kit went to the kitchen to find something for Derek to eat. I burst into the room. Derek had rolled over and was sitting up on the bed, trying to keep his back straight. I sat gingerly on the edge, afraid to touch him. He reached out with his good arm and brought me closer.

"You took a bullet for me." I whispered to him.

"I told you that I'd take care of you, no matter what. I love you, Chloe Saunders." He replied in the same low tone.

"I love you, too, Derek Souza," I answered, aware of the fact that I was being completely honest. I loved him with all of my heart, and it was the kind of love that just doesn't stop. Derek smiled and pulled me closer, kissing me fiercely.

# # #

A few days had passed, and Derek was officially allowed to leave. We hadn't gotten an opinion from Maggie, since she did tell us to leave as soon as he was up to it. Derek had been ready to pack up and leave the day after he was shot, but Kit wouldn't hear of it. Finally, though, we'd packed up all of our things, and we were going to get in our van and move on.

Derek hated to look like he needed any assistance, but he usually accepted mine, because he could play off that he was just holding me close because he wanted to, and not because it hurt his entire back to move. He'd been living off of aspirin and microwave meals for days now. After Simon and Kit tossed all of our bags into the back, Derek and I climbed into the third row of seats. Tori took the row in front of us, and Simon decided to sit up front and play navigator for his dad. It felt a little strange, since the last time we'd all been in the car, Aunt Lauren had been with us. I couldn't help but wonder, for a moment, where she was now.

Kit started the van and drove up to the gates. We hadn't said goodbye to anyone. Our stay here had been a little bit of a horror movie, to be honest, and we were all glad to have survived with only small amounts of damage.

Unlike last time, Derek took the pillow and the blanket that I'd offered him, and he kept me close. We rode in silence until we'd gotten out of the compound and had navigated our way back to the highway. Tori had the entire bench seat to herself, and was using it as a foot rest. "Where are we going, anyway?" She asked, digging through her bag for another one of her books. We'd stopped by a few secondhand bookshops along the way, and Tori had always headed straight for the classics; the more pages, the better.

"Who knows?" I answered. She glanced over at me, and I was almost surprised to see a smile on her face. It was slight, and a little more of a smirk than a smile, but we were getting there. I didn't think that we'd ever get rid of her cynical sarcasm, and I sort of didn't want to anymore.

"We'll know when we get there." Kit said from the front, smiling into the rearview mirror. I couldn't help but smile back. I was glad that we'd gotten out of there alive. I was happy that we'd solved Chelsea's murder, and the mastermind behind all of it had been punished for what he'd done. We hadn't seen John for the remainder of the time we were there, so I never got the chance to thank him, but I wasn't sure if I really would've.

"Let's put the adventures on hold for a little while, though," Derek said, his voice low.

"I'm with you on that." Simon piped in.

I wove my fingers with Derek's. "Yeah. I don't know if I can handle another one of your adventures anytime soon."

_The End._

**So, what did you guys think? We've reached the end! It caused this to be a pretty long chapter, but I know you guys can handle it. Like I always say, it's a bit bittersweet to finish a fanfiction. I hoped you all enjoyed it as much as I did.**

**Please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors, I usually try to skim over them but I may not have caught them all. I wanted to thank you, reader, for taking the time to follow this all the way to the end. You're so awesome. Please, leave me a review of your thoughts. If you have a question that absolutely **_**needs**_** to be answered, feel free to send me a private message, and I'll type back as soon as possible. (:**

**I have several other Darkest Powers fanfics that I would love for you to read. For more adventure, you can read **_**Half-Breeds**_**, which is about Chloe and Derek's children, Whitney and Zander. When Chloe and Derek are captured by a rebuilding Edison Group, the kids decide to go after them, at the risk of becoming experiments themselves.**

**I also have **_**The Hidden Truth**_**, which is about a girl, Mina, who was one of subjects in the Genesis II experiment. Chloe, Derek, Simon, and Tori find her using the list they stole from Edison Group headquarters, and Mina must find a way to protect her friends and family while also finding answers about herself.**

**And for Chlerek fans, I have a oneshot, **_**The Happiest Day**_**, which is about Derek and Chloe's wedding.**

**Thank you all for being so fantastic! Peace (:**


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